Half Breed
by ThickerThanLove
Summary: A Dragonball Z InuYasha crossover. Two timelines, two sets of enemies and two sets of allies met in an odd twist of fate. Now, it will be up to two halfbreeds to set the course both past, present and future. Updated 3 31 11. Chapter 13 fixed
1. Chapter 1

Half Breed

Inuyasha is copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi. Dragonball Z is copyrighted to Akira Toriyama. This story is for the entertainment of fans only. Please, R&R!

_It seems that combining Saiyan blood and human blood begets a powerful hybrid…_

**_Vegeta_**

_Such power is unheard of in a demon…_

_Naturally! I'm a half demon!_

**_Takemaru and Inuyasha_**

**Chapter One**

"No, no, no!"

Gohan gripped the sides until his knuckles turned white and sweat built up on his brow. His bangs stuck to his face and his eyes were wide as saucers. The familiar rush of adrenaline pumped through his veins. His ki rose, if only slightly as his eyes looked over the grim situation. Heroes had fallen or been whisked away, vanished in one swift attack from the enemy.

"No, no, no!" he said again. "You're being an idiot!" He almost screamed that last line. Everyone that had been trusted had been a traitor, everyone that had been strong had fallen and here they were attempting to go on alone?

"Idiot, Idiot, Idiot!"

Couldn't he smell the blood that he was practically wading through? Couldn't he feel the obvious ki that far outweighed his own? Couldn't he sense all the danger his friends had just fallen prey to? He asked himself all these kinds of questions for a long time. Just what he wouldn't give for the ability to jump in. Maybe he wasn't a seasoned warrior yet like Daddy was but he had seen a lot. He'd seen that Cell was destroyed and had even managed to convince Daddy after a few months to come back to life. Goku had thought the earth safer without him but Bojack's appearance had changed all that.

Gohan smiled. Daddy was near, he could feel his ki. He could feel Mother's too. Lately, he felt something else too. Not quite a ki but more than just a feeling as well. He shook his head, slipping from reality and back to the blood stained battle. The last warrior standing approached his nemesis with determined eyes but a broken spirit and a lack of strength then-

"Gohan! Lights out!"

DARN!

Gohan closed the book, thus canceling out his imagination's visions and looked up as his father walked in. "We have training tomorrow, remember?"

"I remember Daddy!" he replied, setting the book down. "I was at a good part though."

Goku chuckled, "You still reading that?"

"Naw, I finished it the day I got it but I like reading it again." He smirked "besides I haven't been able to get the next one yet." He shifted his eyes upward and grinned his boyish grin. "Unless of course, my sweet Daddy thinks he can squeeze that in after training tomorrow…"

"In other words, will I buy you the next one?" Goku translated as he sat on his son's bed and turned the light off.

"…Well, if you want to put it like that…" Gohan said, eyeing him with that coy grin. "I like to think of it as just Daddy's way of being the generous man he is."

"Imp!" Goku ruffled his son's hair. "How about this? You go to sleep and we'll see after training okay?"

Gohan beamed; that was Daddy-talk for 'yes.'

Gohan smiled and said "hey, Daddy?"

"What?"

"I…I'm really glad you came back."

Goku smiled back and laid down on his son's bed, "Me too, little man."

"Why did you stay away Daddy?"

Goku sighed; this was becoming a favorite topic. "Gohan, haven't we been through this before?"

He bowed his head "Sorry, Daddy. I'm trying to understand it."

Goku couldn't very well blame him. Those few months he'd spent in the other world with King Kai had been horrific. Not because of the living circumstances, as Goku was a mountain boy, always had been so the lack of a furnished home and such had not been a problem. It had been the emptiness of spirit. He missed his wife's cooking and Gohan's laughter. He'd missed the feeling of a "home."

He had endured him solely with the knowledge that his family and the earth were being spared monsters because he was now gone. That sense of relief had not lasted long. When Goku had witnessed Bojack's attacks tearing his family and friends apart, it had killed him inside and out. He was unable to help and he knew if one came then more were sure to follow. Life had taught him that. It seemed his absence had not stopped the danger.

He'd gone to New Namek shortly after, asked what they thought as he knew well enough how much they wanted peace and would surely not be biased as much as even Dende would be. Dende may have been the new Guardian of Earth but he was also Gohan's friend. He didn't want to come back because his own emotions were ripping his heart to pieces nor because someone else pitied his own pain. He wanted what was best for his family and for the earth.

The Namekians had summoned Porunga in answer to his question.

Goku had come home to hugs and kisses and excitement and plenty of tears. But it was questions like this that drove home the damage his act had done. He had done it to protect but it had caused such confusion on Gohan especially. ChiChi, being older, understood better what his intentions had been. To Gohan, he'd placed the blame on himself and Goku was still repairing the damage though much of it had been mended, solely because he and Gohan had always had such a trusting and close relationship. It made repairing damages easier.

"I know, son. I thought I was protecting you."

"By going away?" Gohan replied "I don't understand that."

"Well, it seemed like a lot of the bad guys we wind up fighting come after me. I thought-"

"Not them all Daddy!" Gohan interrupted. "You being here HELPED us beat them, not the other way around."

Goku took Gohan's cheeks into his hands "I know Gohan, I know that now. You have to understand what I was trying to do. Even I make mistakes, okay?"

Gohan's eyes faltered a moment but he smiled and nodded "Good thing too now I can get away with them too."

Goku scoffed but laughed "You've gotten away with plenty. And now you're stalling. Get some sleep. We can train that new power of yours some tomorrow."

Gohan grinned "You know Mother has eased up a ton since you came back. She doesn't pound the studying on me so much anymore. Why-"

"Gohan."

"Hmm?"

"You're stalling. Sleep."

"But I want to know that-"

"Gohan!" Goku's eyes were stern but he was laughing. "You're acting like you're five again! Go to bed."

Gohan pouted but he did lay down and Goku reached out, ruffling his hair "get some sleep and we'll have lots of time to talk tomorrow, alright?"

Gohan nodded and turned onto his belly, curling his legs up and scrunching his pillow up into a bunch. Goku sat on his knees by the bed and rubbed the boy's back. "You're spoiled, Gohan."

Gohan just grinned "I know."

Goku rolled his eyes but laughed and kept it up. He liked these moments. He'd missed them deeply. More than Gohan would ever be able to comprehend until he had children of his own most likely. It was a desire to protect unlike anything else before. True enough, Goku cared for his wife and for his friends as dearly as if they were brothers and sisters but a child held a special part in his heart, as it did in any parent's heart. Being away had been murder on his spirit but as long as he knew his family was safe, he'd been willing to endure it. When that safety had vanished, he'd come back and with great pleasure.

Still, it was frustrating to have his son so frustrated and confused. Goku didn't know how else to explain it other than he'd done it to protect him. Perhaps in time, Gohan would understand.

He smiled now. Regardless, their relationship had not been tarnished. Goku looked forward to the next day, the training and play that it would bring. Gohan was getting older but he had yet to draw away from play and for Goku that was just fine. He sat there, just stroking his son's back for the longest time, thinking and treasuring the moment.

Drawing his hand away finally, he knelt and kissed Gohan's temple a moment before going out and to his own bedroom.

He was glad to have his wife back too.

Black

Not night, not that kind of black but deeper. It looked like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber except instead of everything being shrouded in white, it was pitch black. Gohan stood up, looking around. No…it didn't look like the Time Chamber…it was the Time Chamber. He saw the building now, broken down with holes, ash and fire. Crackling of some remaining flames were rendering what remained of the beds and curtains into forgotten memories. Gohan stared, trying to comprehend the meaning behind this. He had spent a year in here and had created many memories here with his father. Seeing it rendered to nothing like this was more than a little unsettling.

"Who did this? Who's in here?" he demanded, turning around, seeking out the landscape for a foreign ki as well as anything odd his eyes would catch. He was trained to be well equipped to deal with any battle or he liked to think so anyway. He didn't know all the experience of his father or his fellow fighters but he had far more battle experience than most twelve year olds. He knew to listen as well as look, to smell as well as feel.

He felt nothing yet his heart felt cold.

He raised his own ki a moment then realized that would draw everyone in the place so he dropped it down to zero.

"Son Gohan."

The voice was right behind him, so close he felt warm breath on his ear. But no ki, no aura, nothing like that. Even if one dropped their ki down, usually a "feeling" or an "aura" like Krillin called it, was still there. Gohan had felt none of this. He whirled around, his fists up and heated with a masenko blast if need be.

He was met with a girl, his own age, standing there silently and gracefully, almost like a ballerina would pose on their toes with seemingly little effort. She had long white hair and wore a white kimono, like those that Mother and Bulma would bring out for the festival days. It was very old fashioned. In her hands, she carried a silver mirror that shimmered with the only light in the darkened realm of time and space.

That wasn't what made Gohan's ki go up and he border on transforming to a Super Saiyan Level Two right there.

Her eyes.

Gohan had learned a long time ago that one could read anyone's soul by their eyes. Raditz had carried eyes full of ruthlessness and greed but also a sense of pride in who he was, the kind of blood he carried. Vegeta's carried an aura of a tormented soul, one that was confused by years of pain and loneliness that now Gohan saw assuaged as of lately. Daddy's were always so full of life and happiness, a carefree purity that Gohan took comfort in.

This girl…

Her eyes were grey and completely empty.

No pain, no loneliness, no happiness, no anger, no hate, no motivation…just emptiness.

She regarded him with this empty shell of a soul.

"Give me your soul."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

ChiChi grinned up at her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck in an achingly missed gesture. He gave her a cunning grin in reply. He rarely instigated anything, let alone anything like that--

"Didn't know you were such a pervert, Goku."

"You didn't like it?" he responded simply.

"Didn't say that." She replied, just as simply. Truth be told, it was a well kept secret from most but despite his naive nature, Goku was quite adept at some adult things and rather dirty things at that. One would never have expected it from a man that had confessed he hadn't known what marriage was so long ago but it pleased her plenty enough.

She was beginning to think that the few months wait was worth it.

ChiChi looked up at her husband again, not saying much. Too many tears had been shed over the months and now was just not the time for words. Other things delivered so much and right now, she was content to lean against him and feel his heartbeat. It gave her a sense of pleasure. Her heart had shattered when he had been dead. Gohan telling her that he would not be coming home had sent her mind spiraling back to all the things she'd said and done that she could not undo.

She'd clung to Gohan for hours, just crying.

Part of her wanted to seal him from anything resembling training but she hadn't the heart to do it. She had been sure that his father's death would have driven that fighting spirit from him and made him content to stay home, with her, and study and explore but it had done no such thing. If anything, it had done the opposite. His determination had doubled.

She reasoned that she knew why.

Gohan had her husband's sense of protector and provider. Thus, he would study for her and train for himself and his father's memory. When Goku returned, after such a long absence, she hadn't the heart to bar or dissuade any of the two. The more she saw them train, the more she seemed to understand that much like she was a blend of protector, princess and mother and Goku was a blend of healer, protector and warrior, thus their son was a mix of warrior, learner and protector. She supposed it ran in the blood.

Still, it did not mean her heart did not race and she did not try and prod her child away from danger but after the events of Cell, she could not deny that Gohan had surpassed the need for protection. Nor could Goku.

It didn't stop her from trying.

Being a protector was something that had become into both her and Goku's hearts when they had conceived their son.

"ChiChi?"

She looked up, snapped out of her thoughts and met Goku's own onyx eyes. "Sorry…" she grinned, a sly grin of a young girl still deeply in love "Why, you waiting for me? Or are you too tired?"

Goku looked into her eyes and he smirked. Sometimes, especially when she was so hard on Gohan, he wondered what had attracted him to her after some time but now, and times like this, he didn't even question it. For all her faults, she loved him and she forgave him his many faults thus, he could forgive hers.

"I ain't tired." Goku responded. "I can go all night if you want to."

ChiChi eyed him. "Didn't you say you were taking Gohan out tomorrow?"

Goku pondered this a moment but then grinned "I'll let him sleep in a little bit." He drew away from her a little "Unless you're done."

ChiChi, a mountain hick at heart, yanked him back down by his hair and now, out of the range of children's ears, she pressed her face close to his eyes and hissed, "Oh, hell no." She smirked. "You've been gone almost half a year. Before that, you vanished for almost two years after that hell on Namek. You OWE me this, Mister!"

Goku grinned at her, leaning over so he ironed her to the bed. "I was training."

"Then you best be giving me somethin' from all that time away!"

Goku beamed, letting his eyes turn green and his hair blond. "I'll let you tell me if I did."

_OOO_

Gohan backed up, his eyes turned green and his hair blond. "My soul?"

The girl remained silent, merely running her hand over the rim of the silver mirror. The silk surface hummed with an unnatural white light, seeming so out of place in this place of dark and fire. The flames from the distance caused a reflection in her grey eyes, much like flame would reflect from a mirror. A mirror, which carried no image of its own, merely reflected that which shimmered upon its surface. That was this girl's eyes, without any inner motivation merely orders displayed upon her face. She spoke without malice, without mercy and without any affliction. It was like talking to a robot.

"Your soul. Surrender it." She said again. She never took a step towards him but Gohan's eyes caught the white shimmer in her mirror so in a split second decision, he took to the air. The shimmering gave him an odd feeling, a dark fear in his heart. He'd been in many battles where blood was shed and lives lost, ripped apart in front of his eyes. That type of battle he could cope with.

This girl made him extremely uneasy.

Said child, looked upward, meeting his determined eyes with her empty ones. She raised her mirror over her head, never saying anything. Gohan darted to the side, behind the shattered buildings in the otherwise empty Time Chamber. He was in a predicament. He'd been raised to never attack unless someone else was a threat first. While what she was saying was quite disturbing, he wasn't sure if she was truly going to attack.

"Son Gohan."

Gohan screeched in surprise as the white haired girl was suddenly right in front of him, with a faint gleam of white light. He focused on her, trying to seek out her ki.

Nothing.

This girl was just like an Android. She had no ki.

He couldn't sense her.

That white light in the surface of the mirror again. Gohan, snapping into warrior reflexes drew his arms backward.

"Ka….me…ha….me….ha!"

No emotion as the light exploded into the girl's path. She lowered her mirror and that white light shimmered again. Gohan blinked then gasped in pure disbelief as his wave of ki shrank and like water sucked into a drain absorbed into the surface of her mirror. She looked down a moment, stroked the surface of her mirror and then looked back up, meeting his eyes once more.

"Give me your soul."

The surface of her mirror shimmered but not with white light this time. Gohan blinked, his eyes recognizing the blue white light of his kamehameha wave he'd just attacked with. The surface of the mirror turned blue then the attack he had seen absorbed was released right back at him. Had Gohan's reflexes not been so fine tuned by so many battles, he no doubt would have been overwhelmed by his own attack but as he was, he dodged it, if barely. The light still managed to scrape his bare feet, making them burn and blister but it missed him head on.

This small girl regarded him, as empty eyed as ever, still clutching that mirror. Gohan wouldn't launch another attack at her. He'd already figured out that any attack he sent at her would merely be absorbed and reflected back at him. Normally, he would have attacked physically then but he guessed she wanted him close so she could do something else with that mirror. For the moment, he was stuck, keeping his distance from her. He pondered the idea of destroying the door to the room after darting out, thus locking her in that dimension but if she could appear as effortlessly as she did, he didn't know if that would even do anything.

He didn't even know her name or what she wanted. All she ever said was that she wanted his soul! He didn't even know here, what did she want with him?

Her eyes, remaining so cold, focused behind him suddenly, "Kagura."

Gohan's senses picked up now on a new ki, not emptiness as he felt from the girl but full of power. Not overwhelmingly powerful but strong nonetheless. He whirled around to face the new attacker-

"Dance of Blades!"

Gohan didn't even get a chance to see his new opponent before dozens of curled white blades, similar to Krillin's attacks cut into his arms and upper torso, slicing pretty deep at that. He avoided the dangerous ones easily enough but it still hurt and it still burned. He darted backwards, landing on the ground, pondering if this opponent could throw his own attacks back at him as well. Blood dripped down his arms, not in dangerous amounts but the loss of blood would not help his strength nor his speed. He focused his dark eyes on the face of his new adversary.

This one was older, an adult, with her hair up in a bun, wearing a kimono of many colors and holding an ancient fan. Her eyes weren't empty like the younger girl's but they didn't seem to be full of malice either. He didn't know what he would call the emotion he saw in her dark red eyes but it wasn't malice. He summoned up one of his attacks, a small one, knowing if he had to dodge his own attack, it was better than just standing here.

"Kanna, get this over with."

A dark tickling appeared over Gohan's heart, making him feel light headed suddenly. His arms went limp, like someone had sucked the energy out of them. He whirled around, as fast as he was able and was completely absorbed in a blast of white light from the girl's mirror. He thought to jump out of it but as soon as it enveloped him, he felt like he was no longer part of his body. He saw his hands like they were foreign objects and he fell to his knees suddenly, unable to feel his legs nor control them any longer. He blinked once and when he opened his eyes again, he was looking back into his own eyes which were now empty and lifeless. An odd force was yanking him further away and he screeched when he saw his own body, still breathing, still alive come into view.

He stared down and saw himself as the white light of a soul.

Briefly, he saw those girl's eyes again and the surface of her mirror then that smooth circle of glass devoured him and he knew nothing else.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The woman closed her fan and regarded the white haired girl. "What use is this one's soul?"

"It is not to keep."

Kagura blinked and regarded the boy's still form. "You're going to return it?"

"This is what Naraku desires."

She flapped her fan in irritation. "What is he up to?" She pulled a white feather from her brown hair which she kept in a large bun and twirled it on her pointer finger a moment. She regarded Kanna who shifted her mirror around, peering into the surface. It was humming with a white light. She looked up at Kaguara. "We must go."

Kanna said nothing more but vanished in a flash of light, but opened a white portal in the fabric of space and time. Kagura threw her feather up in the air, forming a large feather that she climbed aboard, vanishing through the white portal. The two were gone, leaving the still breathing form of Gohan sprawled across the dark floor. He breathed, his heart beat and his eyes blinked. His body protested the cold of the floor and his stomach longed to be fed with the coming of the hours but the lack of a soul rendered it without any motivation to retrieve such things. The soul was the driving force, thus the body laid there, becoming burned and blistered as the fires of the Time Chamber began their daily dance.

Nerves registered pain and sent messages to the brain. The body jumped and moved, attempting to escape it only when the fires began to turn cells to oblivion. After a few more moments of the fiery hot ground and the brain rendered it pointless to escape. There was no motivation to walk nor fly. Ki was generated by will. With no soul, the body possessed no ki.

Memories ran by gradually as the body began to process but they generated no emotional response, merely logical ones. They registered that there was a door and the brain went through old memories, coming upon the memory of the ability to walk. Messages were sent, commanding the legs to move to raise the body from the fire. This was deemed a survival action and thus obeyed. The body rose and walked, seeking out the memory of the door. Right where the memory recalled it, the door was.

With a turn of the handle, the door was opened and the body walked out, seeking out the medicinal herbs stored up on the Lookout but they only sought out the serious wounds. They had no reasoning for repairing wounds where the pain had ceased and because of such, did not. Wounds that had been deemed invisible due to the lack of pain were neglected. The child's mind dictated that the most reasonable thing to do now was to wait. He had no reason to be venturing anywhere, thus he did not.

Stoic, empty eyed and emotionless, with grey pupils, the body rubbed the herbal mixture onto the burns, not even registering the pain they formed. His mind dictated that the pain was indication that the medicinal properties were doing their job. He didn't cry, saw no reason for it, nor did he wince, only drew his body back slightly, a natural response to the pain.

He put the bottle up and sat where he was, feeling nothing but a twinge of hunger but his brain indicated that it was not of a survival necessity just yet. He needn't seek out food or nourishment just yet merely water which he found in plentiful amounts throughout the lookout. Thus, he sat there, sitting a glass of water while the scorched skin of his back festered. It was severely burned, too severe for the nerves to even register any damage. His body did not recognize it.

So, empty eyes gazed out over the horizon as the sun began to peek over the mountains.

_OOO_

"Abnormally strong."

Kanna nodded to her master's observation. "Yes. The child possesses a strong spirit."

The black haired man turned from his cushion, his purple kimono sleeves swaying slightly. "He may provide trouble."

Kanna nodded as Kagura festered in the corner. She knew Naraku well enough to know he was not the type to dismiss someone at the first sign of trouble. He had some other agenda. He had to have one. Why else would they be here…thousands of years from their own time? She still didn't know how Naraku had managed to time hop so easily. Time travel was a spell even the most advanced of demons had trouble with.

"Yet…" The man took a sip of his sake, thinking. "He may know where the seven are."

Kagura gasped softly to herself. The seven final shards of the Shikon Jewel? They had survived without detection this far into the future? THAT was what he was after. Then, there would be only four shards unaccounted for to form the whole gem: the shard in Kohaku's back, the two shards in Koga's legs, and the one shard that the young Priestess Kagome carried with Inuyasha's little group. Kagura frowned.

She didn't doubt they had followed them this far. She had no means of detecting them but she didn't doubt it for a moment.

"Of course they're here, Kagura."

Kagura barely caught herself in the doorway. Naraku fixed his dark eyes on her.

"I am aware of their presence."

Naraku regarded Kanna. "Return the boy's soul. I want to see what he knows and what he is capable of."

Kanna nodded and in that same flash of light, she vanished. Kagura regarded Naraku from her hiding spot in the shadows. He removed a pink shard, tainted with a black light. From his robes, he removed a simple red comb, broken into pieces long ago. "His soul indicated he was powerful." He spoke simply, not entirely to himself but not entirely to Kagura either. "Let us see how powerful."

He pressed the shard into the pieces of the comb and the red pieces merged back together, forming a whole comb again. Almost instantly, A white mist formed over it and in a few moments took on the form of black haired and white skinned woman who opened her eyes after a moment, blinking. Kagura narrowed her eyes. An ogress. Naraku was starting small. He really meant to test this boy. Probably those around him as well. Naraku was no fool. He knew the boy was a danger but he also knew he might be able to be used to his advantage.

"Yura of the Hair, I have a job you might find particularly enjoyable."

_OOO_

Gohan blinked, turning to investigate if that light was a threat. It emerged in the form of that white haired girl whom he had fought earlier. She held out that mirror again and the body immediately rose to action, adrenaline pumping. The memory was well embedded of what had happened last time that that mirror's plane had been introduced.

The surface hummed a brilliant white and this time a wave of intense light erupted, startling the Guardian from his inner chamber. Kanna was silent as ever and using a talisman and power gifted only to her, she rendered the boy's body to vanish from sight before anyone could intrude on their encounter. Her deed done, she vanished away again, only pausing to rematerialize the boy's body in the exact same spot she had first summoned it.

_OOO_

Shock and panic was the first thing that registered in Gohan's mind. He sat up suddenly, his hands ready for an attack only to blink in pure confusion.

He was home, back in his bed.

He felt his body, feeling that indeed his soul and body were once again united. His fears and concerns were rushing once again and his body trembled in response to it. Collapsing backward, Gohan pondered the thoughts a moment. Had that been a dream? That little girl, the mirror, feeling his soul ripped from his body?

He almost believed it was. After all, here he was, safe at home. Nothing out of place.

He rolled over from his back to his belly and froze.

His bed sheets were rich with blood.

Jumping to his feet, he rushed to the mirror, turning around to see his bare back.

It was covered with blistered burns, leaking blood.

"DADDY!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"ChiChi bring me some more of those herbs."

Gohan winced, more out of psychological pain than any physical sensation. The burns on his back had destroyed the nerves it seemed or at the very least, had damaged them. Gohan was beginning to get feeling back and he sincerely hated it. It burnt like it was still on fire and had a prickling feeling of pins and needles, much like when his leg fell asleep, only assuredly more painful.

ChiChi walked in, a bowl in one hand and the pouch of herbs in the other. "Shouldn't we call Bulma? Or some kind of doctor?"

Goku frowned, looking over his son's wounds. Gohan was starting to wince but it wasn't when Goku touched his burns, it was when he touched the skin that bordered between healthy and scarred. No doubt where the nerves still lived. Goku eyed his son and then slapped his son's back, right in the center of the burn, not too hard but enough that normally Gohan would have scowled at him.

Gohan didn't even blink.

"Gohan? Do you feel that?"

The young boy frowned, thinking. "No…I feel pressure but nothing else." He eyed his father, not knowing much about healing although one would have thought so by how he spoke. "That's bad…the nerves should tell me something unless they're numb."

"Or dead."

Gohan didn't like the sound of that. Well, he didn't like the word "dead" period. Combined with anyone he cared about, never mind himself, and he downright despised it. He knew about nerves and muscles from his studying and the fact that he couldn't feel anything but pressure worried him. He knew nerves would die if left to amount of pain for any amount of time. He knew that he'd been left in the time chamber but his brain hadn't formed any new memories during that time.

"Goku." ChiChi bit her lip "Take him to a doctor or something."

The Saiyan was considering that himself. His herbal pastes would keep the wounds from getting infected but if the nerves were dead, he needed more care than he could give him. Gohan looked up, nervously. A trip to a doctor, and not Bulma, usually meant needles. He hated needles, not as much as his father, but enough just the same.

"Daddy," he added "You don't have to. If the nerves are numb, they'll heal on their own. If they're dead then they're dead."

"And if they're dead, we need to find out what to do." Goku replied to his son, solemnly. "Your mom has a point."

Gohan groaned silently "No needles."

ChiChi nodded "Goku, let's-"

"Daddy!" Gohan interrupted, his mind racing with possibilities. "Can't you just ask Korin for some senzu beans?"

Goku blinked and then laughed "Oh. Good idea! I'll go see if he has any."

ChiChi eyed Goku, "Then why are you still here?!" she asked, hissing. "Go, go, go!"

Goku held his hands up in defense "okay, okay!" he turned to Gohan 'let your mother keep rubbing that on. It'll keep it from getting infected." That order given, he held his fingers up to his forehead, seeking out the cat being's ki signature. It took a little prodding as it had been a while but he located it. Frowning, he vanished instantly.

Gohan blinked as his mother applied another layer to her son's burned back. "I gotta learn to do that."

_OOO_

"I can spare one."

"One? That's all I need!" Goku laughed. "Thanks Master Korin."

The cat martial artist frowned "How did it happen, Son Goku?"

The father frowned as he took the small bean from the cat. "Gohan hasn't said."

"Hmm…"

"Somethin' wrong?"

"A new energy, one that I haven't felt before." The white cat seemed deeply disturbed. Goku had seen that only a few times: Cell and his first battle against Piccolo mainly. The first Piccolo. It was a look of discontent and deeply harbored worry.

Goku frowned and then shifted his senses to stretch out over the maximum limits they could. He could feel something different, not like any ki he'd felt before. Well, not quite. It was similar but not exactly the same. He had felt a type of dark like this only from Piccolo Daimaio. Even Freeza's, while dark, had not had this kind of feel. It was much like Vegeta's ki had a different tone to it than Bulma's did. Not simply the power level but the way it felt different. Plants and animals all had ki as well and they felt different than human ki, just like human ki felt different than Saiyan or Namekian ki.

This one…unknown to him.

There was one other ki with it, likewise unknown to him.

"Those two ki?"

"Yes. You feel the foreign energy to them as well, Son Goku?"

"Hard not to…"

"You say this burn on your son appeared overnight?"

Goku nodded.

"Inquire about it. He may know about this odd energy."

Goku nodded. He wanted to know what had hurt his little boy anyway. Both sides of him wanted to know. The warrior needed to know if there was a threat, the father in him wanted to know so he could make whoever hurt his son pay. It wasn't like Gohan to keep secrets from him unless it caused him great alarm or fear. Even so, he usually willingly revealed the issues to him. He would have to ask when he returned home.

"Thanks Master Korin."

"Take care Son Goku and use that wisely. It'll be some time before any more bloom."

The Saiyan nodded, seriously. A lack of senzu with this new energy about was quite disconcerting. Normally, Goku would have saved the senzu but with the nerves in his son's back dead, the boy was paralyzed in that area. He needed the nerves at least repaired and the burn lessened. His son's body could heal on its own from there. Goku broke the bean in half, tucking one half into his left hand while holding the other half in his right.

Goku focused on his family's ki, specifically his son's which still burned with fear. It was a fear like he had felt from his son in the Time Chamber as they had drawn closer and closer to emerging. It was the same kind of fear which had sent Gohan running to Goku in the middle of the night yet unable to speak, merely content to huddle into his father's chest. He had not wanted his son to feel that kind of fear again yet here it was.

No time to ponder it.

Just act.

Goku vanished away.

_OOO_

"Here Gohan."

The teenaged boy took the half Senzu without asking. The senzu must be low for Goku to only manage to get a half of one for him. Gohan pondered about returning it if they were that low but Goku shook his head, reading his son's thoughts before he even said a word. "Eat it Gohan. It'll heal your back enough. We'll have to handle the burn on our own but that'll give you feeling back."

Gohan frowned, wondering if that was a good thing but he popped the bean into his mouth, chewing slowly before he swallowed.

PAIN! BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA!

Nerves sprung back to life in his back and the burn faded from a third degree to a first but instantly the renewed nerves began to send messages, alerting him to the injuries in his back. Goku knelt behind his son and applied the herbal paste again as Gohan yelped "Ow, ow, ow!"

"So, you can feel again, little man?" Goku grinned.

Gohan nodded "Wish I didn't!" he groaned, his face twisted into a deep scowl.

Goku smiled, his relief quite apparent on his face. "The burn's not so bad now. You don't have to be pricked with needles now!"

That was some comfort but not much. It burnt like fire was still crawling over his back. Goku was rubbing herbs all over it and it was slowly cooling the burn away but it still hurt. He'd gotten a few burns like that in the Time Chamber, on his feet and arms from training in the massive heat. This was about at that level of intensity now, due to the healing properties of the senzu.

"ISthat helping any, little man?"

ChiChi had vanished into the kitchen as Goku worked and returned now with some gauze and bandages in hand. "Goku?"

He nodded to her. "The burn's not too bad now."

Gohan frowned "Easy for you to say. Isn't your back that hurts."

Goku pouted at his son and exaggerated a look of pity. "You want Daddy to kiss it and make it all better?"

Gohan's cheeks turned red a moment and he glared "No." he pouted "You can buy me something, that'll fix it."

ChiChi scowled "Gohan!' she rebuked him as she wrapped the bandages over the burn on his back. Goku just smiled,

"Naw, it's okay ChiChi." He smirked "I told him I'd take him out anyway today."

"After all this, you still mean to-" Goku stepped closed to her, keeping his face close to hers. He kept his voice low, knowing full well how good his son's hearing was. He didn't want to try and get answers right now. Gohan was still freaked out and it showed visibly on his face. For now, the fact that his son's wounds were treated and he was safe was enough for the Saiyan. Answers would be reached in due time. Korin had stressed it was urgent but Goku wasn't going to pressure his son. Nothing was every accomplished that way.

His eyes told his cautious wife as much.

"I can figure out what happened easier that way. Gohan opens up more with just me and you know it."

She frowned "Absolutely not! He's hurt-"

"Mom, the senzu healed most of it. It's just a burn…"

"You're hurt!" she spat at him, her eyes afire. "And you won't even tell us why!"

"because I dunno for sure yet."

ChiChi eyed him "you don't know what attacked you?"

"not completely." He answered. "When Daddy takes me out today, I'm gonna find out then I can tell you."

"Gohan…" Goku that time. "Why can't you tell us now?"

"because I want to figure out some answers for myself. I'm not a little kid anymore."

Goku smiled at his son, hiding his concern as well as his paternal pride. "But something hurt you."

"And when we go out, I'll find out what and tell you what I can figure out." He eyed ChiChi "You too Mom. But I know you'll both go into crazy-protective-parent mode and I wanna be able to have some idea of what I'm up against, okay?"

Goku nodded immediately, ChiChi after a moment, "We're already in protective-mode Gohan."

Gohan smirked "Then I better go get some answers before you and Daddy unleash a nuclear war on the wrong person, huh?"

"Nuclear war?" ChiChi shook her head "No, your father's one all by himself."

Gohan beamed "So are you Mom, if someone pisses you off."

"No need for that." She hissed, "None of that smart tongue."

He eyed her but nodded "But…do you see my point Mom?"

She frowned "I think you should tell us anyway…" she sighed "But you best be telling us by tonight, young man!"

Gohan nodded, with his grin. "I will Mom." He beamed wider, a look neither of his parents were good at resisting. "So can Daddy and I go?"

She snorted. "Not yet. Eat first and let me-"

"Ow! Mom, not so tight!"

"-Finish wrapping this burn!"

ChiChi tied it when she was satisfied. Glancing outside, she saw the sun just beginning to make its way skyward and she smiled at her son, gently, in the way that only a mother could do and not look positively devious. Gohan still frowned at her but she responded with,

"Before you two go anywhere, you're eating something!"

_OOO_

"Gohan?"

The boy looked up as they walked down the sidewalk. He gnawed a bit more on the sweet dumplings his father had picked up for him as they went shopping. Gohan had gotten not only his new book but several other manga he'd been interested in. As a way to appease ChiChi, they'd also stopped and picked up clothes, for everyone, one such outfit that Gohan was carrying. The other clothes and books Goku had over his arm. And while Goku knew it would probably mean Gohan wouldn't eat much lunch, he'd picked up the dumplings from a vendor to hopefully get him to talk.

It hadn't worked so he was trying the direct approach.

"What Daddy?"

"Can you tell me now?"

Gohan frowned "I can tell you a little…"

"A little?"

The child nodded 'yeah, because there's a lot I still don't know. I was hoping to get to look some things up at the research center."

Goku eyed his son and stole one of the boy's treats and munched it himself. After a minute he said, "We can do that but I want to know what you know, already okay?"

Gohan glanced around and finally pointed to underneath the trees nearby. They were teeming with the fall red leaves. They would be starting to freeze over with the winter cold but they weren't frozen yet. He walked over and planted himself on the grass beneath it. It was wet with the rain lately but Gohan didn't mind. He rather liked the smell of rain to be honest. His father used to sit with him outside when it drizzled and let him play in it before it would start to pour down too hard.

Goku took a seat beside his son, just glad to be getting some kind of answer. He wondered why Gohan would get any answers from the research center but if that's what Gohan said, then that's where they'd go. Gohan's mind had always been a formidable adversary.

"She wasn't really overflowing with power."

"She?"

Gohan nodded "Uh huh…the girl."

"What girl?"

Gohan sighed, blowing his bangs up. "I thought I was dreaming first…I was in the time chamber but it was all beat up, in ashes and ruins, kinda like what you read in books and stuff."

Goku nodded, listening intently to his son as he spoke.

"But she didn't want the Dragonballs, didn't want power or nothing like that. She said she wanted my soul."

"Your soul?"

Gohan nodded and Goku frowned; he didn't like the sound of that. Gohan frowned himself, continuing

"And she got it."

"What?" Goku got down so he looked right in his son's eyes. "You mean you're not my Gohan? You must be-"

"Daddy!" Gohan grabbed his father's temples. "It is me. She gave it back."

"She…huh?" he blinked. "Just…just like that?"

Gohan frowned, biting his lip "It was gone a while, I remember that because everything went black, like I was unconscious or something…but I woke up back home."

"How did she-"

"She had some kind of mirror." He held his hands up, forming a small circular shape in front of his chest, "Kinda like that."

Goku frowned. "A mirror?"

Gohan nodded "yeah and none of my attacks hit; her mirror sucks them up like a vacuum or somethin'. Slooop!" he said, sucking air in quickly to demonstrate. Goku blinked and cocked his head, thinking,

"So, a mirror that sucks in any attack…"

"And then fires it right back at you." Gohan said simply.

"Right back at you?"

"Uh huh…" Gohan nodded, standing "That's why I wanted to go to the research center, they might know something on her."

"Why would they-"

"I dunno Daddy but her clothes were old…like, ancient Japan old."

"So…"

"So, maybe I can at least figure out where she's from…I can at least try…"

Goku smiled. Leave it up to his son to figure that out. "Well, guess we better get to the research center then, huh?"

_OOO_

_Please…insert…paper._

Gohan rolled his eyes "I'm workin on it…"

A SIR or Scanning Information Researcher Machine could take any picture and research a wide database for any information which meant Gohan could draw what he wanted to find and see what came up. It was a fairly new invention of Capsule Corp but hearing "Please Insert Paper" every five seconds was quite bothersome.

"I think the machine's getting impatient with you Gohan."

The boy smirked but held up his paper where a sketch of a small girl holding a mirror and wearing a kimono waited. "Well, it can have the paper now."

Gohan slid the paper into the slot and a few moments later, two buttons appeared on the touch screen:

WHOLE SUBJECT TOPIC FOUND and PARTIAL SUBJECT TOPIC FOUND.

Gohan grinned and punched the former button. After a moment, the screen displayed a color image of the girl he'd sketched but obviously a much older painting. He grinned at his father "That's her! It actually has HER listed!"

He punched the picture and then an article appeared.

Gohan blinked and stared, his eyes skimming the title:

Kanna, an ancient myth of Pre-Secondary Evolved Earth.

Demoness of Nothingness.

Gohan stared "A demon…?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Gohan frowned, pondering over the information he'd acquired. He and his father had spent a long time trying to dissect what they had found out but it really wasn't much to go on. After printing out the information, Gohan had drawn the second woman he'd seen though she took much longer, given her far more elaborate attire. Gohan had taken more time to finish it, especially focusing on her kimono. He had a feeling that it was important. He knew a little about the Kanna.

Gohan frowned and looked at the information he'd printed out about the girls. He was supposed to be asleep but he couldn't stop pondering what information he had. He'd told his mother what he did know and she promptly had gone crazy, screaming about how he wasn't going to fight against a demon like that! Whether she believed it or not though, Gohan wasn't sure. He was certain that after Cell she'd realized, on some level, that fighting was as much a part of his blood that it was a part of his father's.

Gohan didn't like to disobey his parents if he could help it but he knew if his mother told him he couldn't fight that he would do it anyway.

"Kagura…" the boy repeated the name, focusing on what little information he possessed. He stared at this printout as well as the drawing he'd done of her and pondered what he was up against.

"Kagura, demoness of the wind. Powerful and seemed to present some amount of power of the dead."

Gohan blinked; that was new.

"Like many demons of Pre-Secondary Evolved Earth, Kagura was said to have possessed abnormal cunning and agility but seemed to possess supernatural endurance, easily healing and recovering from what to normal beings would be a fatal injury with not even a visible scar. Legends claim she was unable to be killed."

"Immortal?" Gohan pondered aloud. Most of their enemies were strong and harder than Hell to Kill…Gohan often referred to Freeza as the Cosmic Cockroach because he was impossible to get rid of, but they could at least be killed. The only one that came to mind that was truly immortal was Garlic Junior and he was trapped in Dead Zone.

How could they defeat someone that couldn't die?

Gohan shook his head, going back to the little information that had been given on Kanna. She has even less information than Kagura had. Still, he plowed through what he had, shifting slightly on his bed to get more comfortable. He looked over his drawing one more time, shuddering just thinking of those empty, emotionless eyes.

_Kanna._ _A legendary demoness of Pre Secondary Evolved Earth, demoness of nothingness. Feared for her lack of remorse and emotionless approach to killing. Known to possess a legendary mirror said to reveal the very soul of one. Very little known about her proposed powers. _

Well, Gohan knew at least that these two were HARDLY legends. Legends didn't snatch you from your bedroom, attack you, leave and then bring you back.

The boy stood, walking to his desk. He pulled his chair away and set it by his bookcase and climbed onto it, reaching up and pulling down a history book and an old book of maps and atlas that his mother had given him a few years back. Settling on the floor, Gohan flipped the book open to the index, looking up Secondary Evolved Earth first, knowing that referred to the time the earth was in at this point and had been for several hundred years…at least seven hundred years.

"Secondary Evolved Earth refers to the rebuilding of the remains of earth's land with the few remaining humans and animals which survived the unknown disaster known as Apocalypse which is believed to have occurred in the mid twenty-first century of original earth. Explanations vary from chemical and nuclear warfare gone awry to attacks of legendary beasts of ancient legend but no one has discovered its exact cause."

Gohan flipped further back. So, these demons were from way long ago, before that disaster destroyed most of the world's land and population. Back when animals didn't possess the intelligence they did now. Something had happened after the disaster and lots of the animals developed human like intelligence and no one knew why. It was so common place now that most people didn't ponder it. Gohan sure didn't. Oolong and Puar were animal-like as were some of the orphans he'd met a long time ago. So, these demons were from way before then.

Gohan had flipped back, way back. It felt weird. He wasn't even in his own era anymore or even the era when the Old Timer, as his father referred to Master Roshi had been alive. Gohan didn't have much to go on. The records only said that they were from Pre Secondary Earth which could be anywhere in a timeline that spanned over millions of years. Gohan frowned, eyeing the drawing again and thought, well, maybe their clothes were a clue.

He flipped through his books, specifically the section on clothing and other natural treasures that had survived the Apocalypse disaster. Mother knew he liked to explore so she got him books that emphasized things like that. Gohan only paused once, to turn on his overhead light to ease the strain on his eyes. He flipped and read and searched until finally, about an hour before dawn, on some of his last books, he found what he was looking for:

Pictures, well, paintings, of kimonos like the elder woman had worn. He found nothing on the younger girl's style but this was a start. Gohan read over the description, ignoring the nonsense about its material and whatnot, only reading for dates or other information.

_Warring States Era._

Gohan closed his book and flipped open his atlas and maps. He kept the one on their current time to the side and opened his Premier Earth map, seeking out the small time line it kept at the bottom. Trailing his finger backwards from Apocalypse Disaster Period, he skimmed through the dates until he found the era entitled Muromachi Period and within that period, several small divisions, including the one he was looking for: Sengoku-jidai, Warring States. He remembered learning a little about that. A time period when all the lords were fighting each other for land and stuff. He hadn't learned much on it, just the average ideal: lots of civil war and lots of death. Gohan shifted his eyes downward, seeking out the dates, although they were only approximations.

_1467-1573_

The boy sat back, his mind doing rapid backflips.

"That long ago?" he said out loud.

It would be 768 at the end of the month right now. So…the boy sat back, doing some crude and approximate math in his head. No one knew for certain when the Apocalypse disaster had occurred. The year rebuilding had begun had been regarded as a new year, year 1 of what they called Secondary Evolved Earth or SE for short. The rumor was that the disaster had occurred mid twenty first century of Premier Earth which used to be divided into BC and CE. The twenty first century was in CE.

The boy shook his head and got up, pulling his chair back to his desk and pulling out a paper and pencil, writing down these dates:

_Present: December 767_

_Warring States Era: 1467-1573_

_Mid Twenty First Century: Appx. 2050_

The boy wrote down some simple math, though not simple enough to do altogether in his head, next:

_2050-1467 583_

_2050-1573 477_

_583+7671350_

_477+767 1244_

Gohan sat there, pondering this well into dawn.

"So…at the very earliest…1,350 years ago…latest…1,244 years ago."

_OOO_

Yura of the Hair walked about the trees of Mount Paouz, noting their odd color and shape, so different from what she knew. Still, now was not the time. Naraku, for whatever reason, had given her life again. While she was grateful to be alive, she was not grateful to be without her nest! It had been destroyed by that wretched half demon and his human girl.

She stretched her arms out then headed down and over some of the mountains, swift as a leopard, a talent of speed and grace gifted to most demons, her included. Her eyes were peeled for two things: material to make a new nest and a place fitting for her new nest. This land was full of open places but she wanted a place isolated from most others. Her last nest had been that way and it had served her well. However, she also needed a place where she could access it if need be.

The demoness paused, settling her left foot on the branch of a nearby tree, overlooking a waterfall. Her eyes lit up and she bounded downward, barely touching the water before she bounded off again, landing atop the waterfall on the cliff and surveying the landscape. It was a thick grove of bamboo plants but far from any type of building, even the scattered homes she'd seen about these mountains.

She reached into her top, brushing past her left breast and removed a single red comb which she laid against her cheek, speaking softly "What say you, my sweet? Is this good?"

Yura landed again in the middle of some clovers and grass but noted the bamboo nearby, nodding with approval. She leapt into the air, landing on the bamboo stalks, pouting to herself. "but this just does not do. I need my nest."

She shifted her ears and sniffed. She didn't have the senses of a dog or wolf demon but she did have senses that far overwhelmed an ordinary human. She could smell someone close, but not too close. There were several someones over the next few gorges and cliffs. The demon grinned and clapped her hands "oh goody, meat for my nest."

She leapt forward, disappearing over the trees, the bamboo stalks barely moving an inch under her movement. Her short black hair fluttered slightly in the wind and her eyes narrowed, easily seeing through much of the morning dark that all humans would stumble through. Being an oni, an ogress demon, she was accustomed to such things.

Landing silently, without so much as bending a leaf, she ventured into the small mountain village she'd found, watching as doors open and people emerged, going to stores, going to schools and--

What was this?!

Yura leapt up, landing effortlessly atop one of the houses, balancing on the edge of a rain gutter, staring in awe as the streets came alive with hustle and bustle, like the sun had just triggered a start alarm. She blinked, tapping a finger against her face. What odd kimonos and hakama these folk wore? And what odd sandals!

But their hair! Oh, their hair was gorgeous!

Black of every shade, blond, red, brown, even some shades she was unaware existed outside other demons. No silvery beautiful shades but certainly some whites and dark blues and greens, shades she knew only to exist in nature! Yura beamed widely, but was rather baffled by the odd wagons these folk had! No wheels some of them, they seemed to float atop the air. Those with wheels carried no horse or oxen to draw them. Was this a new type of magic unknown to her?

No…they had parts that moved, like the wagons of her time that mortals used to pull water from deep wells to rice fields. Yura leapt down, landing gracefully in a darkened part of town then slowly made her way out into the crowds of people, taking note of those with the richest and finest. She had seen several shades that intrigued her, most noticeably, the bright red. She followed the one woman she noted with it.

If Yura was aware of the looks she was getting, she didn't react. But looks, she was getting.

She looked human but her clothes looked quite suiting for an ogress of the dark, making her stand out amid the day. Her black skirt, cut with slits up to her waistline was barely past her buttocks as it was so quite a few men were staring after her. The two strips of black cloth that served as the top to her outfit scarcely covered her nipples, leaving quite a show for the men. She wore no shoes, just black stockings that covered the majority of her feet but left her heels and toes exposed.

This was an odd outfit in of itself but in December, it was especially odd, given all the people scurrying about with scarves and jackets. This woman didn't even flinch under the winds. She walked simply, an odd and interesting grin on her face. She walked with an odd grace to her, like ballerinas often looked on stage but she acted as if there were no effort in the action.

Yura walked past a group of humans that pointed after her but she ignored them, following the head of bright red hair across the black river. It was solid under her feet, a surprise to her and those odd, magical wagons traveled over it. She stepped out, following the figure who walked with two small children, one on each side of her.

HONK

Yura turned, seeing one of those odd wagons emit some type of horrific noise and skid to a stop just short of hitting her. From inside, someone emerged, fist raised. "Get out of the damn road, you whore!"

Yura eyed him, cocked her head, like a bird studying its prey. "You've taken horrific care of it." She commented and yanked a piece of the man's hair out. "Look at the split ends."

She shifted her weight and sprang to the air, a good twenty feet and landed on the white sandy rock where it seemed most of the people were walking. She turned, meeting her red haired target who, likewise as the rest of the village were staring at her, even the livid man. She walked over, graceful as ever and ran her nails through the woman's red hair.

"You have gorgeous hair."

The woman blinked, seemed disturbed and concerned but then smiled at the compliment.

"wh-why thank you."

Yura drew the red katana that hung on her hip. "I want it."

Swinging her sword once, the woman didn't even shriek before her head spurted blood and rolled to the ground as her body slumped backward, blood pumping from the severed neck. The two children screamed and the villagers took off in all directions. Yursa picked up the severed head and smiled. "Oh, yes, this is perfect."

"Mommy!"

Yura directed her attention to the children who were beating on her legs. "What did you do to Mommy?"

Yura eyed them. Black and blond hair but no red. Still, it was young and fine. A rare thing to find, especially with the length the girl carried. She drew her katana again.

"I'll take those shades too."

Another swing of her blade and she tossed two more heads onto her pile. This act made several villagers flee but several also charged her, shouting "Murderer! They're babies!"

Looking over her shoulder, Yura eyed the mass of colors rushing her. Smirking, she put her bloodied blade to her mouth, licking off the rich red blood like it was chocolate on a spoon. "More for my nest…just perfect."

Her blade struck.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Taking a drink of her tea, Bulma stopped from her current project to rub her wrists. She'd been working on Trunks' birthday present for a while now. Vegeta constantly said she was wasting her time, that a Saiyan needed no toy but his training. That training was his pleasure as well as his duty. Well, in her mind, Trunks was not a full Saiyan. He never would be, just like Gohan would never be. She liked it that way. Better to let the children find themselves anyway.

And she'd already figured out that Trunks liked to knock things over so a collection of blocks that changed shape when they fell down would intrigue him for hours. It would also make sure he wouldn't be invading her lab again! A toddler and various mechanical equipment and chemicals was never a good combination especially not one that took after his father in his desire to blow things up.

Bulma put the finishing touch on one of the blocks then brought out blue prints for something she'd been working on a bit. She had been working on a special art studio for Gohan, originally as a birthday present but she was starting to wonder if she might be giving it as a different type of gift before long. While ChiChi hadn't said it out loud, Bulma was her best friend. She saw things that others didn't. They were just little things right now. Whenever they went shopping, ChiChi was starting to spend more and more time among the baby things, commenting to her how much more improved things had become over the past decade. She was asking Bulma if there was a way to add a smaller capsule to the house, just a one room one. She was starting look at names…

Goku and ChiChi had discussed another child before Cell, in the three year break, the woman had said to her. Both had wanted it but both had also agreed it hadn't been a good time. ChiChi and Goku had discussed trying after Cell's defeat. Bulma wondered silently, now that Goku was back and it seemed they had a break of peace, would they try again? ChiChi acted like they had already started to try.

And no, this gift wasn't for her future niece or nephew but for her nephew at the present.

Oh, she wished ChiChi and Goku luck, no mistake about that! She'd become a mother herself and so far, while she found it challenging, she also loved it. Trunks was sleeping right now which she had come to treasure as of late now that he could move around! She loved it though. It was a sense of fulfillment that Goku had often spoke of in his own that she had never understood. Now she did and she also knew Goku loved kids. He was most at peace when he was playing with his son. She wasn't surprised he wanted more kids. That didn't worry her.

It was a little boy named Son Gohan and the phrase "Daddy's boy" that worried her.

Or to be more accurate "jealousy."

She trusted Goku to prepare Gohan as soon as he knew if their many tries turned out successful but she still wouldn't have taken money to trade places with him. So, she was doing her own part to help. So many people tended to go gaa-gaa over news of a coming baby and she didn't trust that she wouldn't. But she didn't want to cast her nephew out either. So, this was for him.

"We interrupt this program-"

Bulma looked up, more than slightly annoyed. She kept the TV on while she worked so she could listen to her favorite shows or catch up on news and right now, when she was brainstorming, it wasn't news she liked to focus to. Still, this channel was not known for interruptions so she put down her pen and listened.

"-It's unknown who is behind it. The remains of the entire village of Akai, on the far edge of the Paouz Mountain range were found by traveling relations of some of the residents today. Investigators have started to comb the entirety of the town and so far, no survivors have been found. It seemed that all were killed by decapitation though no leads exist yet as of the means nor the executor—"

Bulma's full attention was now on the television screen. She'd seen blood before but not like this. The reporter was reporting from a helicopter and even from there, Bulma could only see buildings amid what looked like a sea of red below. Normally she would have turned the channel but such a crime was almost unheard of, at least to this degree.

She couldn't see details but even she could see that there were little children, babies even. It was like a massacre from a history book or some type of horror film. It was almost surreal because of the sheer savagery of it. The news would not be the only way it was spread, Bulma was sure. Such an act was so rare she was almost positive that the king would be told and various other announcements and warnings would be issued. The King was intent on keeping peace as much as possible so it wouldn't surprise her to hear mentions of investigators soon, even more than the local area.

She hoped so. It sounded a lot like some type of serial killer to her. She turned her attention to the television, listening for any details that might be issued. She was concerned for her own safety, her young son's, Vegeta's…

Well, she pitied anyone who tried to take his life but regardless she knew he wasn't invincible contrary to what he believed. If this person, monster, whatever it was, for she refused to believe it to be anything human capable of such mass slaughter, at least not in a such a short amount of time, was capable of destroying an entire village with no regard to gender or age then it was unprecedented what its physical abilities might be. She didn't know if it was fast or strong or both or if there was some other means they used. She hadn't seen a lot of Freeza's carnage. She'd seen Cell's on television but even then, it had been more pure disintegration or burns. For some reason, blood was far more gruesome. While Cell had never shown mercy regardless of age, it seemed like this enemy had singled out their victims one at a time. The more Bulma watched the information available, the more she was convinced that this had to be some kind of monster. She didn't like to think that a serial killer, no matter how twisted, had the means nor the stomach to wipe out an entire village without leaving a single survivor. That aside, how could they have taken the heads, every single one of them without being noticed?

She bit her bottom lip and walked off, picking up the phone. She didn't really want to make life any more complicated than it probably already was but this had her worried. She worried about how close in proximity this was to Goku's home and that made her worry about Goku, Gohan, and ChiChi. Not many people lived in the mountain ranges and they lived pretty far apart so word didn't travel very fast. If this village had been totally wiped out and no sign of the killer, who was to say that they hadn't moved onward to a new target?

As she dialed the familiar number, Bulma walked down the hall, stopping briefly in the doorway of her son's room. He was bigger now, able to play on his own or with someone. She had put up the baby gate so she leaned against the wall and watched him throwing some balls around. He already had his father's strength, she could see that. She wondered if Vegeta noticed because it seemed like he didn't notice much. It would be hard not to notice she thought, what with all the dents in the walls.

Still, it was Vegeta.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts as the other line started to ring .It rang twice before the woman's voice answered and Bulma smiled, hearing her best friend's voice. Odd thing that, she and ChiChi becoming as close as they had. It had really begun when Goku had died after Cell. Some of ChiChi's animosity towards the others had died with Goku as well. Why, Bulma wasn't sure but it had been a welcomed relief to Gohan who saw that whole little group as an extended family of uncles, grandparents, aunts…though he had never met Tien's little 'girlfriend.'

Bulma smirked; she personally thought that Goku's death had opened ChiChi's eyes just a little bit. Not a pleasant way to go about it but in some ways quite necessary. It had improved her relationship with her son as well as with her father. She and ChiChi had used the malls and Bulma's many credit cards to help her through some of her grieving though she'd left Goku's side of the room untouched. It had been a little dusty when he returned but fine otherwise. Maybe that was one reason the transition back to normal life had been so simple.

But it seemed like that had come to a screeching halt.

"Hey, ChiChi? Have you watched the news lately?"

_OOO_

"Bulma told you that?"

ChiChi nodded, chewing on her nails. Goku eyed her, his eyes narrowed in concern himself. "I checked the news myself. It's on every station." To prove her point, ChiChi flipped the television on, turning channels over and over. Goku sat down, eyeing the news although he usually didn't find interest in it, usually too sad and depressing for him. Seemed like there was always some kind of bad news. ChiChi insisted on keeping up to date nand usually told him anything he might need to know.

But even he was transfixed by what he saw and heard.

"…numbers dead reaching the hundreds…"

"…no apparent pattern—"

"Motive…unknown…"

"Thousands mourn the loss-"

Goku turned to his wife "Akai Village they said?"

The human woman nodded "Yes, the entire village…gone."

"Everyone?" there was a deep pain in Goku's voice. He didn't know much of anyone else save his own little group but ChiChi had been trying to make other friends, especially those that were involved in educational pursuits. She'd been talking to a few in that village that were involved in schools or laboratories. She hadn't made many friends but had learned a few family names…

Tesho, a family associated with some of the school community boards. Three children: a three year old boy, a five year old boy and an eight year old girl. Mother a homemaker who shared recipes with ChiChi whenever they happened across one another, usually at the market. Father who worked as a teacher in the village's small school. An elderly grandmother who never tired of working her garden.

Jaro, a family that owned a business that made school books for a lot of the cities, especially concerning obscure subjects like forgotten languages. One child, a teenaged boy who had started a part time job in the village's main convenience store. ChiChi usually had help out to the car with her groceries by him. She couldn't remember his name but she always praised his manners.

While Goku didn't know any of these names, he knew that hundreds of people had died, men, women, children…babies. Truth be told, it was the fact that the children, even newborn infants had been slaughtered that made his blood run cold. How could anyone be so ruthless? To wipe out entire families, entire bloodlines stopped cold in their tracks…

It made him sick and so close to his home. The fact that there were no leads made the father in him nervous. He headed outside, to fetch Gohan. He had a sinking suspicion this had something to do with the new enemies Gohan had described. ChiChi followed, more than ready to pull Gohan inside if she had to. He'd been exploring the mountain, trying to figure things out. He said the mountain helped him think but right now all she could think of was that she would yank him inside by his ear if she had to…

Plowing out after Goku, the woman followed as the television kept reciting its sad news.

"…sadly other news is not any better. Two children near Lake Kanashii were reported dead by drowning earlier today. It seems the heavens send many young ones away this day…"

_OOO_

"Enough Kanna."

The white haired girl lowered her mirror. "You are satisfied, Lord Naraku?"

"the people of this time are odd indeed. Unaware of the mysteries of their own world."

"You speak of their ignorance?"

Naraku nodded to her realization. "Quite. Yura will be a good test, given her weak power. They don't realize how many demons they house as it is without my negative influence."

"You plan to use their own?"

"As it suits my needs." He responded simply. "They have fooled themselves. This "logic" and "science" you have shown me that they pursue has deemed demons and spiritual powers a fantasy. They're unaware how many they have." He smirked. That much was true, far too true. He had felt so many demonic creatures since he'd arrived. Demons grew stronger because of their adaptability. Several he had felt were far older than many of the cities on this earth, preying in silent and in moderation so not to arouse suspicion. No reason to draw attention. Human beings provided no threat to them nor any means of power. Victims were easy to come across and not be missed.

The children in the lake, courtesy of a few Kappa demons.

Elderly men and women on roads courtesy of kitsune tricksters.

Children within mountains due to Ten-Gu.

Truth be told, many of the demons he had felt about here had not strived for a long while. No reason to strive, no challenge, no leader to follow.

With his negative influence, he felt so many of them stir and grow stronger once more, drawn to his negative energy. Demons thrived on demonic energy and thrived on crushing spiritual energy. There was so little energy on this planet now. He felt only minimum powers and the only strong and threatening powers….they were an odd mix. He didn't try to understand them. He knew them to be a threat, one reason he was unleashing Yura on them. He had a feeling they were the link to the seven shards he was after. He wanted to understand them, see their strengths and weaknesses. It would take time…a lot of time, maybe even months of testing different trials…

But demons were quite patient.

Besides that fact, he wanted a chance to see what kind of demons he had at his disposal. They were being drawn to his negative aura. They would be emerging from their solitary realms.

He glanced down at his hand in which hummed a dark orb, small as a marble and most completely round save a small nick, a sliver missing. It was almost solid black with an evil aura.

"And drawn to the demonic powers within the Shikon Jewel."

_OOO_

"A pity…so young…"

As the King's squads set to work wrapping the bodies and carrying them to a waiting plane, a solitary figure loomed in the shadows, drawn by the news of death. They took gingerly steps around the blood spills, silently. As they made their way through the town, eyes froze and stared at them and for good reason.

The ancient looking kimono, the woven sandals, the bamboo rain hat…

Well, she looked more out of place than even the dozens of king's helpers. One worker approached her, "Madam, this is a confined area…"

"What happened?" came a soft, voice.

"We're trying to determine that, Madam. A serial killer, as near as can tell…"

The woman kept walking, eyes focused on some of the dead. She knelt by one group of workers, eyeing the dead child at their feet as they wrapped up the limp body. She mainly focused on the severed neck. Eyes narrowed, a dark scowl.

"An ogress' sword…no, not just any sword…a Crimson Blade…"

She lifted her eyes and stood, taking off her hat and touching the small yellow cat on her shoulder "A demoness."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Gohan walked along, frowning to himself. His mind was doing back flips with everything he'd learned. Demons. They were different than the monsters he'd faced yet similar in so many ways. But another thing bothered him. They called the demons youkai, which he'd researched as meaning any type of supernatural creature. The monsters they fought so many times were referred to as youma, meaning monster. They were very similar in both meaning and word. Gohan pondered, especially lately, whether the monsters they found today were in fact demons. Or maybe descendents from demons. Had power declined in that amount of time?

He was no expert on demons. Judging from what he'd been reading, demons were not evil spirits, though many types were. Rather, they were spirits and supernatural creatures with advanced abilities and powers. By that definition, the form of Super Saiyan could be considered a demonic form in some ways. He frowned again, sitting down by some bamboo plants.

What about the world today? Did it still house demons or did they just have to worry about these ones appearing from the past? And what were their motives? Everything had to have a motive! Did they want the world like everyone else seemed to want? The universe, maybe? That wouldn't be a first. The Dragonballs? Seemed like everyone and their mother wanted those.

It didn't make any sense to Gohan. He cursed the fact that they knew little about earth from before SE. CE was semi-known but there wasn't a lot of information. All the information they had before SE Year 1 were from stories of mouth passed from the few survivors. Those had deteriorated over time. The information about Kanna and Kagura seemed accurate, from the little interaction Gohan had had with the two. Perhaps they had been well known demons and thus, not easily forgotten.

He shook his head; that still made no sense. He pulled himself up into a tree and walked along the naked branches even though he knew both his parents would have promptly bitten his head off for it. In the summer, ChiChi always worried about the slightest thing but in the winter, the branches were weaker, slick with water and ice. That was always a bit much even for Goku. Gohan mentally rolled his eyes. Why was it that his father didn't seem to worry at all when they were going against some kind of homicidal maniac bent on universal domination yet Kami forbid he should fall out of a tree?

Gohan shrugged, mentally, and kept going, pondering the landscape. Underneath his arm, he carried a packet of lists and information he'd printed out. He was examining the nature around Mount Paouz simply because it might show him signs of demons that he might otherwise have missed. He wanted to know what Kagura and Kanna wanted but he was limited in that respect. Perhaps, almost unconsciously, he was hoping he might learn more about demon ambitions if he understood demons period.

He sighed, blowing his hair up above his eyes in a huff. So far, the mountains were just as he remembered them: clean of anything suspicious. Still, Gohan suspected it might have been because he was too closely involved. He saw these woods and trees every day. It would be better for an alien eye to be exploring them, pointing out anything suspicious but he didn't have that luxury.

_OOO_

Yura laid back and regarded the head that rested on her lap. The blood had long since drained out of it and she was free to brush the beautiful red hair as much as she liked. The eyes still stared up at her, blankly, without life. It was an annoyance, that blank stare. She flexed her fingers a moment then took the comb, her favorite red oni comb, that she'd been using to comb her victims' hair out of her bosom cup and after a moment, she pierced the remaining eyeballs with it and yanked them out, one at a time, tossing them to the side and drying off her comb on her skirt.

"Ah, so much better, my sweet." She cooed, brushing her forehead into the rich red hair. The feeling of human flesh made her stomach churn. Such disgusting creatures they were! She pulled her katana from her waist and placed the blade to the skull she held in her hands. She praised her katana once more. "Oh, what a lovely thing, truly an oni's dream: to cut flesh straight through the bone but to not fracture this precious hair."

She took a slow slice, taking off pieces of flesh bit by bit. She picked up the fallen pieces of flesh, eyeing them, pondering a moment then with a shrug, she pushed it into her mouth, savoreing the taste of human skin. Truly, it was a rare treat. These humans' tasted odd, tougher than most flesh she was used to. Contemplating this, she picked up one of the discarded eyeballs in two of her fingers and turned it over in her hands.

"An odd breed these humans." She shrugged and plucked them into her mouth, taking time to savor it when it burst in her mouth. They tasted different, these humans were harder in flesh but so foolish in mind. Still, it was quite an unique haul. So many different types of colors and textures here.

"Yura of the demon hair…"

The demoness laid back, resting her back on her mound of fresh human skulls. Some, she had peeled of their skin already and she languished in their bleached white feel. Rolling to her belly, she cooed "Ooo, if it isn't little Kanna…"

The white demoness of nothingness walked without a sound, aura or scent and with her empty grey eyes. "Lord Naraku has a new target that you might appreciate."

Her interest peeked and she sat up, sitting criss cross. "Ooo? What might intrigue me?"

"What about hair that changes shade?"

"Changes?"

"From black to golden in an instant…" she intoned as she summoned up images in her mirror.

_OOO_

Gohan stood, walking on. He looked around Mount Paouz with a look of caution. He paused only when he reached his favorite tree. Climbing up its damp and cold branches, he settled into the thickest branch and pulled out a large stack of printed pages. He'd looked up more of the demons, any information he could which was mainly what were in fairy tale books. It had never occurred to him that the stories could be real or at least partially real but since all professional references referred to the demons as "myth" or "exaggerated" he assured that they held just as much truth as the "legends" on Kanna and Kagura.

He skimmed over the list he had. There were so many! Yet this was only a small amount available.

Tanuki

Kitsune

Hebi

Mujina

Bakeneko

Nekomata

Okami

Tsuchigumo

Inugami

Oni

Tsukumogami

Mermaid

Gohan blinked. A few he recognized from old stories, old bedtime stories. He frowned and started replaying them in his mind, trying to figure out if there was any truth to their stories.

Raccoon-dog, Fox, Snake, Badger, cats, wolves, spiders, dogs, ogres, spirits formed from regular items like jars, a half fish spirit and the papers mentioned dozens of others too numerous to name. Including some tales of humans possessed and even transformed into demons. Gohan frowned deeply, again. He furrowed his brow, trying to recall the good or evil of the demons, the powers of the demon but even bedtime stories were limited in their knowledge, having become degraded in time.

He knew the fox, raccoon dog and badger to be tricksters but other than that, he was at a loss. He knew what a mermaid was, his father said he'd even found one as a kid but he'd never thought of them as a demon! What kind of powers did they have, aside from breathing underwater? Almost subconsciously, Gohan looked out to where the lake and ponds were. He had seen many things in the water. He usually saw those huge fish but occasionally he saw small other creatures. He scowled, if it had been warmer, he would have gone into the water to seek out more clues.

Plowing his memory, he tried to see if he remembered anything useful. Nothing came to mind; to him the lake had always been one of two things. It was either a place to get an excellent fish dinner or it was a swimming hole. Gohan stood up and walked that direction, though he didn't really know what to expect. There was no snow just yet but he could smell it was almost cold enough for it. He approached the lake, looking down through the water. He could see very few animals now, near the bottom. He walked around the perimeter of the lake, eyeing and looking for anything. Something was telling him that there were answers right around his backyard.

Nothing.

Gohan set his papers down and dipped one toe into the icy water, giving a visible brrr! at the cold contact. He pulled back and on second thought, sat down, focusing, letting his ki flare up around him like a shield. It was an odd technique, a make shift shield. It wasn't very strong, being made solely of aura and quite frankly, it wouldn't provide too much insulation.

Still, determined he was and with a jump, he plunged into the icy waters. The aura kept the intense coldness from sending him into shock but his lips still turned blue and his body still trembled. He plunged deeper, opening his eyes and raising more of his ki the deeper he went. It was still cold, almost burning cold. He could already hear the lecture he'd get from both his parents but he needed some answers. He could see animals deeper down in the depths so he pressed on, shivering more with each kick. He could gauge his lungs fairly well and he had a little bit of time left so he pushed down so that his fingers brushed the bottom of the lake. It was ice cold down here, even more than the ice cold chill when he'd first dove in. However, his eyes were intrigued. Down here, he found several things he had never bothered to notice before.

Slipping forward, he would have to explore quickly. His lungs were beginning their burn of pain. His eyes focused on one thing and that was what looked like the remains of…well, something. It was a ways off, where the lake branched off and into rivers. He could feel the pull of the rapids but followed it regardless. He was about five feet from it when his lungs could stand it no longer and he dove toward the surface, breaking with a loud gasp of air. The winter air cut into his wet face like a knife and after a brief moment of taking in fresh air, he dove back under before the air made him too cold to lose his nerve. As it was, he trembled as he swam.

Determined, he finally came upon what he'd seen, the limp form of some odd looking animal. At closer glance, it resembled some type of turtle or frog creature. He got down closer, having to kick to keep from drifting to the surface. He frowned. It looked like someone had thrown a frog and turtle together. He looked past it and saw small caves, hidden in the mud at the bottom. He slipped his hand into one, digging to try and get some visuals. His hand hit something heavy and limp. Straining, he yanked and after a moment, went sprawling backwards. Glancing down, he screamed, shock killing his concentration and dispatching his shield, causing cold water to erupt onto him so suddenly it took more of his breath away. He kicked and let go instantly. He gurgled slightly as his air bubbles escaped his throat.

Looking back up at him was the corpse of a small human girl. Some of her flesh was missing—

Wait!

Unable to stand it, he shot for the surface and took in air all the while scrambling out. It was one thing to see death on the battle field but in such a creepy way and in his own backyard? That creature he'd seen near the cave…that had to have something to do with it, didn't it? Trembling and soaked, he swam for shore and rushed for his packet of information, hoping to match that creature, to match that cave..anything!

He let out a heavy sigh, still fighting to get his breath normal despite the coldness and flipped through the pages, hoping to find some kind of knowledge.

All he found at first was that demons came in many different forms and types. Youkai and daiyoukai were noted most often. Demon and Great Demon. Apparently, the daiyoukai were supposed to be more powerful. Gohan wasn't entirely sure but it seemed like daiyoukai were kinda like kings or emperors or somethin'. He wasn't sure if each demon type had one or if they were fewer in between. All the papers said were that youkai and daiyoukai lived together and daiyoukai were particularly feared by both humans and demons alike.

But what had that thing been?! It was giving Gohan the creeps...well, not necessarily that but that girl. Why hadn't he noticed before? That girl still had flesh on her. That creature was new!

He sighed and thrust the papers down in frustration. The papers didn't really tell him anything. All they told him were that legends had limited information and that any information spread that had survived the calamity that created the earth as it was. Gohan frowned and looked around the atmosphere, as if the trees and animals might give some answer. He smiled up at a small winter fox that had begun to make its way over, completely unfazed by him as was the norm. It crept over and Gohan rubbed its ears. He smirked as the fox curled up in his lap. It gave him a small sense of comfort, and the warm fur felt good on his cold skin. Gohan reached into the ground and plucked out a small beetle, burrowed deep into the ground and held it out to the animal's snout. He trembled, pondering a moment that he really should head home and get warmed up, facing whatever punishment awaited him, but the fox felt oddly warm to him, almost supernaturally so. Considering this fact, he regarded the animal.

"So, is there really a demon fox species, fox?" He asked softly, smiling. "Or are all these legends more myth than truth?"

He froze as the fox's fur stood up on end and it fixed its big eyes directly into his. It couldn't talk but those eyes were reflections of knowledge and Gohan knew it. He picked the animal up and held it close to his face. "There is, isn't there?" he said suddenly. "Then, that thing I saw…that was a demon too? And it ate that girl?"

He sighed, lying back and set the fox down. It trotted off of the boy's lap but Gohan followed it with his eyes. "Why?" he asked out loud, not necessarily to the fox (as he suddenly felt a fool for talking to it like it could answer) but to anyone around. "Why now? This lake hasn't ever had that kind of thing? Why now? And this Kanna and Kaguara..why now?"

"Arami-tama, nigimi-tama, kushimi-tama, sakimi-tama"

Gohan fell over, onto his side.

The fox's own eyes met his own.

"Shikon." It intoned then vanished in a flash of blue light.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"So this Super Saiyan is truly so powerful?"

"Immensely so."

Naraku laid back, taking refuge in the dark of the room. He fingered the black jewel he held in his hands. "Let us see how Yura handles it."

"Yura…" the figure by his side laughed. "An ogress you called her?"

"An oni, yes. Of demon hair."

Oh, now his companion laughed out loud and hard. "A monster with power over hair? And you think this a worthy threat for a Super saiyan?" A low chuckle. "Oh, how foolish you are Naraku!"

The black haired humanoid man turned "Foolish am I?"

"Yes! To send such weaklings against a Super Saiyan?"

"What makes you so certain I intended to use her as a means to kill?" was the simple reply.

"Why waste time otherwise?"

Naraku chuckled, stood; let his violet kimono ruffle in the wind. He stepped away from his partner, letting them relish in their arrogance. The creature was no threat to him, not as he currently was. Had he been truly revived and of his own will, he truly would have been a threat but Jidai had warned him as he had ensured she would. A loyal servant Jidai was. Creating her had been a risky thing, combining his own blood and the Shikon Jewel's ability. He had a great many demons embedded within himself. Kagura and Kanna had been formed of his own body and Jidai's body was formed of his as well but her powers and abilities were borrowed from the Shikon Jewel.

He hadn't the time to search forever in his own time for the remaining seven shards and it was Jidai who suggested time travel to recover them easier, in a time when their presence would be far easier to root out. As it was, she had turned out to be right. He could feel their presence, the darkness of them was concealed somehow however which brought him back to his present dilemma.

These folks whom he had sent Yura against had the strangest aura he had yet to detect. They seemed capable of supernatural things and he suspected that they either had the jewel shards themselves or were aware of where they were. He wasn't about to intervene with them directly just yet though. It was vital he understood how they worked first. If that meant his demons appeasing themselves on the other humans and creatures of this world then so be it.

This ally of his had immense power. Jidai had only to get a small piece of his body for the Shikon shard to do the rest. Naraku pondered if this creature was well aware that should he choose, he could easily rip his life away from him. Without the Shikon shard to maintain the blood flow and breath, he would decompose away again; it was the shard that gave that reconstructed body life.

He had no desire to be rid of him just yet. He would test Yura on these people first, to see their abilities. He knew better than to launch his ally at them yet. It would make them suspicious and he needed to observe them a bit longer.

He was patient.

_OOO_

Gohan sat there for a long time, thinking. He was trembling, cold but he hadn't moved. What had THAT meant? It didn't sound like a spell or anything. The fox hadn't hurt him…that must have been a kitsune and that made him nervous. All his readings said that kitsune were tricksters. What had it done? He rubbed his arms, thinking, his mind feeling overwhelmed by all the events of late. He had learned a lot but he still had so many questions. Then, there was that phrase: Arami-tama, nigimi-tama, kushimi-tama, sakimi-tama.

What the heck did that mean?!

"-GOHAN!"

"GOHAN!"

The boy looked up, hearing both his parents' voices. He stood, slowly, contemplating going to them but he still had more questions than answers so he walked off, away from their calls. That required walking back past the lake. He trembled but made his way over, purposely staying as far from the water as possible. He didn't want any reminders of that small girl.

Yet, at the same time, he felt like there was so much he didn't know. Were those kinds of creatures in the main body of their lake? It looked like they lived in caves. He found the caves down the river a bit but that didn't mean that they didn't dwell in his own backyard. He pondered this a moment, watching the water and then drew away, walking back towards his house. He would beat his parents in which suited him fine. Maybe he could get changed before they noticed he was soaking wet. He didn't need to hear that lecture.

The boy made his way back, the fox still dominating his thoughts, but more accurately that phrase. Maybe they were words he'd never heard before. Maybe Mother, Daddy, Bulma or somebody would know what they meant. That comforted his thoughts a bit as he continued his trek home. He was making his way around the back way, around Great-grandpa's house when he froze just short of reaching the same hut.

His body felt like it was tingling. He couldn't describe it any more simply. It reminded him vaguely of the feeling he got when his foot fell asleep except this dominated his entire body. He felt an odd ki, energy, about. He hadn't any way to place it except that it felt similar to the Dragonballs which generally meant magical in origin.

Jumping up as he felt his stomach drop, he leapt out of the way and looked back, seeing a large square of white light on the ground which shimmered a bit then faded as soon as he leapt out of range. Mouth agape, the boy crawled on his hands and knees back to the spot, cautiously. He put first one hand forward then a knee and so forth. He slipped out his right hand and the ground sprung to life again, white light and that magical aura. He yanked his hand back and it stopped. He placed one finger on the spot and as before it sprang to life. He jerked his hand away and it stopped.

Dumbfounded, Gohan sat there. "What the hell…."

"Gohan! There you are!"

The boy jerked his head up as his parents broke out of the bamboo fields and headed his way. ChiChi broke ahead, in a run, noting his soaked clothes and his blue lips. "Son Gohan, what did—"

"Mom, stop!" he commanded suddenly and sharply. He held his hands out in a 'cease' gesture. ChiChi, surprised more than anything, stopped.

Goku blinked "Gohan, what's wrong?"

"Go around Daddy!"

"Around what?"

"This spot!" he pointed. "There's something weird about it, something magical. It—"

"Gohan, you might have hypothermia." ChiChi intoned simply, stepping right onto the spot. Gohan's muscles tensed and he leapt up, ready to yank his mother out of-

Nothing.

No white light, no magical aura.

Nothing happened.

Gohan stared as ChiChi put a hand against his skin. "Oh, Kami, you're clammy and ice cold! Goku!" she turned to her husband who began to walk over himself. Once again, Gohan waited and watched and nothing happened. There wasn't any light or even a faint aura, aside from the concern he felt from both of his parents.

"B-b-but it did. It was-"

Goku lifted his son into his arms "Gohan, you're soaking wet. Let's get you in a hot bath and you can tell us what happened, alright?"

ChiChi ran ahead to heat up the indoor bath as Gohan leaned against his father's warm arms, peering over his shoulder to where his young eyes could still see, clearly, that small square. It was no longer the blazing white nor did he feel the tremble of magical aura. Yet his eyes remembered the space and saw it as clearly as if it were marked with lights. The boy laid his cheek onto his father's strong shoulder, his mind feeling oddly strained and frustrated.

Goku blinked, feeling his son's body tense immensely suddenly and Gohan's nails dug sharply into his shoulder blade. Goku turned, still holding his son to see what gave him such alarm. The boy's face was solid white when Goku pulled him down a bit so he could look at him. "Gohan?"

The boy just stared and Goku shifted his head to see what caused him such trepidation.

Chuckling lightly, Goku rubbed his son's back. "It's just a fox, son." He remarked as the small white furred creature darted around the small hut and vanished into the bamboo.

"No…it's not." Gohan responded in a cold and solemn tone.

_OOO_

"OS you jumped into the lake? Son Gohan, I thought you were smarter than that!"

Gohan winced, "Mom, I kept my ki up as a barrier."

"Didn't seem to work too well though, did it?" she responded, taking the showerhead and drenching his head with hot water. He winced at the sudden sting but his body accepted it readily.

"I had to…." He looked up "Daddy, help me out here."

Goku had been standing there, silently for most of the time since Gohan had reported his findings. Now, he approached his child and knelt by his side and pulled his fingers out of the warm water, rubbing at the tips. Finding them fine, he did the same to his son's toes. He fixed his son with a dark look and Gohan drew away, head down.

"Gohan…"

"I HAD to Daddy!"

"Couldn't you have done it another way?" was the Saiyan father's reply. He took a heated towel from the side and wrapped his son up in, lifting him out and carrying him to the fireplace. Sitting him down, he met Gohan's eyes. "That water could have done you some serious…" he trailed off, not liking the thoughts that were rushing through his mind.

"But…" Goku smiled and Gohan relaxed. "I know why you did it."

Even ChiChi seemed to have resigned from her previous anger, relieved her son had not encountered any permanent damage. "So, you found monsters in the lake?" she asked, a little incredulously. "That sounds like something out of a horror manga, Gohan. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I didn't!" he snapped. "I mean…I really saw it Mom. It was down the river a ways though. That just tol' me that there were monsters though. Didn't tell me much else. The fox did that."

"The fox?"

"yeah, it talked to me."

Now even Goku was eyeing him. "It talked to you?"

Gohan nodded "It didn't say much though. Just two things but I don't know what they mean. Never heard them before."

Handing her son a mug of hot chocolate and her husband one of hot tea, ChiChi sat by her small family and inquired. "Well, I'm sure we can figure it out. What did it say?"

Gohan closed his eyes, thinking then intoned: "Arami-tama, nigimi-tama, kushimi-tama, sakimi-tama." He sighed. "that was the first thing it said…"

ChiChi blinked, surprised. "That's an old Shinto belief."

"you know about it Mom?" he inquired, his eyes wide. She frowned, deeply.

"No, I only know of the terms. I couldn't tell you what it could mean." She tapped her chin. "Pa only mentioned it a few times, when we would visit different kingdoms. Mainly when we had this young girl come and see us about trading. She would talk about it a lot and Pa just tol' me it was a Shinto belief."

Goku snapped his fingers. "But I betcha Krillin or Tien would know!"

Gohan looked up "really?"

Goku nodded "I bet they would. Krillin was training at a temple before I met 'im and Tien knows about that kind of stuff."

Gohan picked up the phone before his parents said anything else and dialed Roshi's house. "Hi Master Roshi, can I talk to Krillin?" There was a pause then Gohan called "Hey Krillin! Listen, I got a clue to what's been going on and thought you could help me out…yeah, it's kinda complicated…oh, okay. See you then."

Gohan hung up and met his father's eyes. "Krillin said he was coming over. Said he'd seen the news and stuff and wanted to talk about that anyway."

ChiChi stood. "I'll get a hot meal going."

Gohan met his father's eyes "Daddy, you believe me don't you?"

Goku smiled at his son. "If you said it talked to you, then it talked to you."

Gohan grinned and laid against Goku's chest. "You really think Krillin will know what it means though?"

Goku shrugged "Can't say 'til we try, can we, little man?"

_OOO_

"Yura will encounter them soon."

Once more, Naraku bristled, hearing his companion laugh out loud. "You truly amaze me Naraku. So much power you hold yet you waste time by playing games…"

"I am not content to merely kill them."

"Oh, so this is testing your luck." Came the silky warning. "You will find a Super Saiyan not such an easy foe."

"I suppose you would know, as you met your death twice by them, yes?" Naraku turned and faced his companion. "You, who boost of incredible strength lost." He walked over with careful strides then plunged his fingers into the person's neck, pulling the very tip of a black shard from the skin. Skin turned pale and began to retract. Thick gasps came as lungs lost their power to draw in air and began to decay away. Naraku pushed the shard back in and the creature fell to his knees, gasping deeply for air. "Remember this well before you judge my methods. It is the single small shard that keeps you tied to the earthplane. It is that small shard that has given you life….Freeza." He chuckled deeply. "And I can take it away just as easily."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"…wanna run that by me again?"

Krillin sighed but laughed good naturedly. "They're 'four souls' Gohan. Four Souls is usually called-"

"-Shikon?"

Krillin blinked, surprised but nodded "Yeah…how did you-"

"Long story."

"..right." Krillin swallowed some of the hot tea that ChiChi had brought him and after taking a bite of the rice cakes, he replied to Gohan's inquiry with "The four souls make up the soul or the heart inside someone. Arami-tama controls courage, nigimi-tama controls harmony, kushimi-tama controls miracles, and sakimi-tama controls love. When they're all balanced inside someone, they can stick to a path of righteousness, they call a balanced soul "Naohi."

Gohan stared, taking all of this in, knowing it somehow had to relate. Why else would that fox had bothered saying it?

Goku scratched his head, eyeing his best friend "I'm guessing there's a down side to this, right?"

"Isn't there always? Magatsuhi is used to describe a twisted soul."

ChiChi sighed "met my fair share of those."

Krillin nodded. "Yeah…" he blinked, then had to laugh at Gohan's face. "bit much, little buddy?"

"A little bit…so…if the pieces are balanced then the person is Naohi?"

"Not always. They have to be balanced and combined. When someone turns from the right path and goes astray, the aspects aren't balanced anymore."

"Uh…"

"basically…" Krillin tried again. "A Naohi can become a Magatsuhi and a Magatshui can become a Naohi."

Gohan rubbed his head again "but Miracle? Harmony…."

Krillin frowned, "Lemme try this another way. Harmony can also be used to describe 'friendship.' Miracles can also be used to describe 'wisdom.' When someone is balanced in love, courage, wisdom and friendship, they hold great power in themselves if they are united together."

"Like Daddy?"

Krillin smiled "And you. If I was to wager anyone to be a Naohi, it would be Goku. You too, Gohan."

The ex-monk frowned, thinking. "Also…I'd call Freeza a Magatsuhi." He smiled at Gohan "basically, in a nutshell, everyone's soul is formed of four balanced aspects. Every one can be either good or evil."

Gohan sighed "Lot of help that is…what does that mean?"

Krillin shrugged. "that's all the fox said? The four souls and shikon?" he snorted. "Odd."

Gohan nodded, looking outside. "Daddy?"

"What Gohan?"

"Can…can I go look for that fox?"

ChiChi leapt up "Gohan, you don't know what that thing is!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a demon." He responded, nonchalantly, as if it were a normal occurrence.

"Oh, that REALLY makes me feel better." She responded, crossing her arms. "My son, after nearly freezin' himself to death outside, is going to go gallivanting off after a demon."

Gohan twiddled his fingers. "Piccolo's a demon-folk."

ChiChi narrowed her eyes "Something that doesn't hold well with me either, Son Gohan!"

"But he hasn't done anything bad for a long time."

"He was born to kill your father! I'd think you of all people would find something WRONG with that?"

Gohan narrowed his eyes "you can't help why you're born Mother." He eyed her fiercely. "Yeah, he did a lot of bad things but I don't think anyone is completely innocent of anything."

"Son, I-"

"Wait!" Gohan held up his hands. "How did this get on Piccolo?" he turned to his father "Daddy, what do you think?"

Goku was silent a moment. He didn't think he'd be much good helping Krillin figure out that odd statement by the fox and he saw Gohan's point. He met ChiChi's eyes. "I'll go with him." He held up his hands to ward off her verbal assault. "I can help him look, I know Mount Paouz even better than he does and it's been his playground for years."

"and I just sit here, aimlessly? Not on your life Mister!"

Gohan spoke up. "Mother, why don't you and Krillin call the others and try and figure out what that fox could have been referring to? Daddy said Tien might have an idea too. I don't even know if finding the fox will help."

Despite herself, ChiChi frowned, acknowledging her son was right and easing her heart with the knowledge that not even the demons of Hell itself could touch him if he was with his father. Goku had given his life to ensure that on more than one occasion. She sighed and turned to Krillin "Well, don't just stand there like an idiot! Let's go call the others."

Goku turned to Gohan, saying "Let's g-"

But Gohan was already out the door.

_OOO_

"Right here?"

"Underneath there is where I saw the body of the girl." Gohan remarked, pulling his father's jacket tighter around his smaller frame. Goku had managed to snag him before he ran outside entirely, making him dress at least in a sweater but for Gohan, it hadn't been enough so Goku had handed his son his own jacket.

Goku frowned, thinking "Well, let's see."

He lit up his hand and with a "hyah!" the waters split under the ki blast, exploding to the sides with a huge crush of foam. Goku jumped down, raising his ki up to keep the waters at bay for a little while longer. Gohan gazed down, fascinated "Gohan, where is it?"

Gohan blinked. "Daddy…it…it was there!"

Goku rose out of the water, letting the sides crash in again when he removed the influence of his ki and landed by his son. Gohan met him with desperate eyes. "Daddy, you have to believe me!"

"I believe you Gohan." He reassured him. "Are you sure it was here?"

Gohan nodded "it was! I remember that. I left after I found it and I went that way" he pointed through the trees. "That's where I met the fox."

Goku nodded, "Well, let's go see, okay?"

Gohan nodded, leading the way. He was certain of the way, could probably had followed it in his sleep. It had been burned into his memory. He led the way, his father following.

"The fox first appeared here." He pointed. "It ran off after it talked to me." He said, moving around the tree. "Right here…then it ran away!"

Goku nodded, thinking. "Hmm…well, if a fox demon is anything like a fox maybe it has a den or somethin'."

Gohan frowned but nodded "Well…why don't you look that way?" he pointed to the opposite side of the forest. "And I'll look this way." He pointed just ahead. "It's a white fox, but it moves different, moves almost like it's thinking or plannin' or somethin'."

Goku eyed his son "You stay in ki range Gohan." He gave that warning with a strict tone. "I don't like whatever this is. It's creepin' me out and I want to be able to keep an eye on you, okay?"

Gohan nodded " I will…"

"Keep your ki low though…don't attract unnecessary attention." Goku warned.

"I won't."

"And keep your guard up. Don't jump into anything without thinkin'."

"I won't!" Gohan insisted, drawing the last word out. Goku cocked a brow at his anxious son.

"And drop the attitude."

Gohan sighed, rubbing his hair back "Sorry. But I know all that Daddy…you remind me every time danger comes up. I don't have THAT bad a memory."

Goku gave a serious look. "This time has me nervous…I haven't seen an enemy slaughter without meaning like this since Freeza. That's why I'm so nervous, okay?"

"Alright…look, I'll even stay in EARshot okay?"

Goku nodded "Do that…and—"

"be careful, I will." Gohan nodded as he took off into the trees, keeping his sharp Saiyan ears open. He wasn't real sure how to start on this. He knew which direction nthe fox had gone in and he knew what it looked like but really, what did that help? If it was a kitsune, they were known for trickery so who knew what it could be doing or what form it could take.

Still, he pressed on, even as the day wore on. He occasionally would connect mentally to his father, only to get the same news…no luck.

Exhausted, frustrated and irritated, Gohan sat down, taking a moment to rub his aching feet. He didn't hear much about the forest, save a few of the animals scampering above. He raised his head, looking for the source, finding it to be some squirrels. That worried him. Usually, they kept in their dens in the winter months. As they scampered, Gohan stood, watching them.

Animals had a knack for knowing when something was amiss. They were running in a pure panic, like rats deserting a sinking ship. One leapt off the branches and onto another tree branch. The second leapt into the air-

And split clean in two, blood falling like rain. The two pieces of the animal tumbled to the ground.

Gohan blinked, too stunned to say anything. He knelt, staring at the fallen creature. The cut was clean, flawlessly so. Like a perfect slice through a fruit. No jagged edges.

"Hoo, hoo, ho! You do have beautiful hair!"

Gohan jerked his head up "Wha-?"

Hovering above him, dressed in a short skirt and with a red katana at her hip, was a black haired young woman, smiling, with her fingers spread widely. "Hello there. I'm Yura of the Hair."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"Yura…of the Hair?"

The woman leapt into the air, turning a flip and landed not two feet in front of Gohan. Her feet never hit the ground but Gohan didn't feel her ki raise at all. He could feel it but she wasn't manipulating it like he and his friends did for flight. Rather, she bounced up and down lightly, reminding him slightly of a spring. His focus never left her eyes, those dark eyes which looked at him like a bird of prey would observe a mouse.

She leaned over, deep over, so that her nose nearly hit his. Gohan blushed slightly as his eyes were closer to her breasts than he preferred to be with anyone. She certainly didn't seem to have any shame in it. She slinked one hand forward, pulling a strand of his hair up onto her fingers. Her voice was soft but it had an eerie tone to it, almost like a purring.

"Oh, me oh my…and such tender care given to it…not even a single split end…"

Gohan backed up slightly, prying her fingers off his hair. "Uh…"

"But I was told such remarkable things about that hair…" she crooned, easing back up into the sky, again, bouncing like she was standing on a trampoline. "Where is that beautiful golden color?"

Gohan blinked, stared at her "What did you do to that squirrel?" he demanded out of the blue, pointing at the remains of the poor animal. Yura blinked, cast her eyes over like the thought had escaped her mind. Her eyebrow rose a bit and then she chuckled

"Oh, poor thing…caught in the strands of my web."

"Web?"

Gohan blinked, looked around but his eyes saw nothing. The woods and forest looked the same but Gohan had to admit that it felt different. He couldn't say how but it felt more enclosed though nothing physically had changed. He glanced around a second time, trying to figure out what web she was talking about but once again, he saw nothing.

"Show me that pretty golden color."

Gohan glanced up. "What?"

"I want to see that pretty golden hair!" She said again, drawing her katana and tapping the blade on her lip. "Show it to me."

Gohan snarled, "Why should I?"

"Oh, me oh my. You are a stubborn one. What a shame…so many stubborn people in this time."

"What…wait! You're the one that killed all those—"

"Oh, those in the villages?" she asked, as if they were unimportant. "Their hair was so beautiful yet they made such a problem of getting it." She pouted, eyeing her sword. "And I even went to the trouble to use Crimson to avoid ruining that beautiful hair."

Gohan was stunned ot say the least. "You killed all those people for their hair?"

She grinned, "As I'll enjoy doing to you but not like that. I have plenty black, plenty blond and several inbetween Give me that golden shade!"

Her fingers spread again and Gohan blinked, almost unsure if he'd been seeing things or not but no, he'd seen it, for a brief second. Across her fingers were red lines, glowing in the shape of a net, like an old string game that he'd played when he was little. Then as she yanked the fingers apart, the light vanished and he couldn't see anything else—

PAIN

Gohan yelped in surprise and pain as his body was slammed firmly into the nearby tree at a speed that he normally only reached during flight. His arms went up to push himself away and like a constrictor, he found them unable to move any further. Looking down, he saw small gorges spreading across his skin, leaving red cuts in their wake. And there weren't just a handful of them. They were in numerous amounts, each one drawing a thin line of blood and restricting his movements. He shot his ki up as he fought to free himself.

He could break them easily enough, at least under normal circumstances. The way his arms were pinned made it awkward. Several were wrapped around his neck and the more he struggled, the more they tightened. It made his breathing more labored as they dug under his skin. What were they? Strong as wires yet he couldn't see them, at least not when his blood hadn't highlighted them. Like threads or—

Hair.

Yes, hair…he could see it now, could feel the familiar texture. His heart froze cold in his throat. These hairs…were they from all her victims? Those lost to her blade…were their hairs now decorating his body, pinned him down to let her fulfill another attack? Anger filled his heart, remembering all too well his mother and father speaking about all those heinous attacks, about all the children slaughtered and—

"You bitch! You killed them all! And for their HAIR?!"

His hair stood on end slightly then flickered golden as he tore loose of her bindings and landed a slug to her face. She moved aside, letting him land behind her. At this, she squealed and clapped her hands. "Oh, joy! That hair is gorgeous!"

Gohan growled at her, "Don't get too attached, you aren't getting any of it."

At this, she pouted, sighed, tapping her katana blade on one hand "Me oh my, such stubbornness." She smirked. "I do wish you'd hold still. It'll keep that beautiful hair from getting stained with your blood."

She lunged at him.

_OOO_

Goku frowned, turning. He felt a ki, no correction, two ki. They were both alien and while they didn't carry a strong power reading, they were certainly ones that made him worry. One was human; no mistake about that while the other was more like Piccolo's ki. He shifted himself to the air, waiting, to see what was wandering about his lands.

He didn't have to wait very long before a small yellow cat darted out, sniffling at the ground. Goku blinked, staring at it. It looked different than the others he'd seen. It had two tails! Not just one that was slightly split but two tails, each with its own base. They were waving independently on their own as the creature sniffed at the ground. Goku pondered slightly to himself that of all things, a cat with two tails should have been no surprise to him, after all he'd seen.

"Kirara, do you smell it?"

There was that other voice. From the bamboo, stepped a young woman, looking to be about twenty by her face but her ki told Goku that she was probably only a few years older than his son. Maybe five or six years older. Yet she carried herself…well, not totally differently than his son did, he realized with a sad comprehension. Like his son, she walked with the gait of one weighed down by guilt and troubles. Yet there was a steady confidence in her eyes. Her outfit was of black suiting and armor, namely over her shoulders, knees and chest though she carried a sack which he assumed was where she held other clothes. Across her back, she carried some type of wooden weapon which looked mostly to Goku like a giant boomerang. Had she set it right side up, he didn't doubt it would be taller than she.

The small cat turned and gave a small meow in regard to its owner's interrogation.

Morecurious than anything, Goku dropped from his spot amid the branches, to greet these strangers, in his typical fashion. "hey!"

Instantly, the woman dropped to her knees and pulled a katana from her waist, pointing it at Goku. The Saiyan backed up, keeping his hands up right. "Hey, hey, hey, I'm not gonna attack you or nothin'."

The woman eyed him, seemed to study his face and to some degree the feeling she got from his presence. She eyed her small cat which approached Goku, nose twitching. Goku grinned, knelt and held his hand out to her to sniff. The cat looked cautious but took a few brief inhales before backing up and nodding to its comrade.

The woman sheathed her blade into a holder on her thigh that Goku hadn't even noticed.

"Didn't mean to startle ya…just wonderin' whatcha doing on my land? We don't get many wanderers out here."

The woman eyed him and stood. "Pursuing a demon."

"A demon?" Goku blinked, his mind doing lots of comparisons. "You don't mean that thing that's been killing off villages around here?"

"The oni, yes."

"An oni?"

"An ogress…" she responded in affirmation. "And with a lust for human hair." She commented. "This place reeks of her nest. Kirara was pursing it."

"A nest?" Goku scratched his head. "You lost me there…"

"You…have not dealt with such demons before?"

"not ones with a nest…" he said simply. "I take it you have." He looked her up and down and laughed again "You could probably send them running!"

She smiled, finally. "My name is Sango and I make it my business to do so." She looked him up and down. "Though you seem as though you are capable of dispatching a demon on your own."

Goku laughed, a hand behind his head. "If I have to I—"

He froze, his eyes jerking to the side as he picked up a sudden raise in ki. "Gohan-"

As soon as he said that, he saw the human woman rushing in the direction of the ki. The small cat by her side became engulfed in flames and a moment later, there was a large cat, at least the size of a mountain lion, probably even the size of a horse, with saber toothed fangs and red eyes and feet that were surrounded by flames. The human woman leapt onto its back, "The oni's here! Let's go Kirara!"

Goku took off after them, but after a different target, his son.

He saw the battlefield before he reached it, as he saw trees collapsing in pieces and bamboo ripped to shreds from where he was.

He sped up, overtook the human woman and her cat and vanished ahead with them in close pursuit.

_OOO_

Gohan wiped the blood from his mouth; he wasn't doing as well as he'd like to be doing. While he was easily faster than this demon as well as stronger, her damn hair strands were like nets that caught his arms in the middle of an attack. The shattered trees were evidence of her several attempts to pin him again.

He rubbed his neck, where there were still cuts. The boulder she had slammed him into was mere pebbles now. "That was too close."

"Hmph. So. You aren't human."

Gohan met her eyes.

"if you were, that would have taken your head clean off. You have demon blood in you?"

"Demon blood? Like you? Hell no. I'm half-Saiyan!" he spat his father's race's name with pride. Yura smiled.

"Oh, a new breed of demon."

"I said no—"

He jumped, avoiding her katana attack but found his arms once again slamming straight into unseen obstacles. He cursed, barely dodging her katana blade. It cut his arm slightly but missed his neck, her intended target. He pulled hard and the strands broke. He landed on his feet. It seemed the air was a bad place to attack her. Her strands were present up there, though he couldn't see them.

"Gohan!"

The boy turned "Daddy!"

His father rushed the battlefield, his eyes immediately scanning his son for injuries as well as regarding this woman with deep contempt. She blinked, cocked her head as she stood still in the air. "Oh, another one? And do you have beautiful hair too?"

Gohan eyed his father "Don't fly Daddy, she's got some kind of net around here."

"net? I don't see a net."

"neither do I but trust me, I've felt it."

"get ready to feel it again!"

Drawing her katana, the woman lunged-

"Hiraikotsu!"

The oni cursed and leapt back as a wooden boomerang flew in from the side and narrowly missed her blade. She reestablished herself up in the air as the woman emerged. Gohan regarded her with curious eyes but he wasn't about to turn down an ally.

Sango eyed the young boy, the landscape and Goku before removing a small pouch from her shoulder guard and throwing it up in the air. "Goku, destroy it!"

'Eh?" he asked but he didn't wait for her to reply and threw a small ki blast at it. It erupted into a cloud of golden dust. Gohan shielded his eyes and Yura of the Hair cursed, creatively.

When Gohan opened his eyes, all around him were golden strands of hair. To say a net was generous, it was more like a swamp of nothing but hairs. But now, each and every one was coated in a golden dust. He eyed the human woman who smiled at him. "I'd say you can take it now?" she asked him gently. Gohan beamed and then turned his eyes back to his opponent who was growling at Sango at the same time as she gasped in horror at the strands, looking remarkably and ironically like she would cry.

"You'll die for ruining my precious hairs, _youkai __taijiya!"_

Gohan blinked, sorting through the word in his mind: youkai taijiya.

Demon slayer.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Yura eyed her victims, similarly to how a lion might eye a meal upon the horizon. Not as out of reach but rather as something that was a bit of an inconvenience to obtain. The demon slayer was a bother that much was certain. She had not destroyed her precious hairs, thank goodness but she had certainly made them visible. That ruined a great deal of her trap.

Gohan eyed Yura with caution. She had gone silent and her eyes were looking over her opponents. Gohan drew his hands back into a familiar pose, summoning up the ki attack that had become common place over the past couple of years. He realized, suddenly and for no reason in particular that his first attack, the very first one he'd ever learned, was being left in the dust. Seeking over the memory in his mind, he shifted his hands. It was not just for emotional reason but also for use.

He'd rather not destroy all of the mountains if he could help it. If he could focus on a more specific area, all the better. The Kame Wave was good for an outright destructive attack but was not so useful in small confinements, not if he wanted to leave things intact at any rate. He shifted his arms from behind his body and brought them up above his head.

"MASENKO HA!"

The blast that erupted forth from his fingers was double what it used to be, probably even bigger than that. He didn't take the time to ponder it but just chocked it up to his ki energy levels increasing with his experience. The blast was centered directly on Yura and he poured all his speed into it. He wanted her to shut up, he wanted the hairs corroding his "backyard" so to speak, gone, he wanted to be able to focus on a more perplexing problem though this Yura was certainly complicating things.

More than anything though, he really wanted this done and over with so he could take a boiling hot bath to get the feel of the dead person's hairs off his skin.

The thought alone was making his skin crawl.

Yura sprung up, like someone on a trampoline and sprung in the air, holding her palms out still. She did about three flips in midair before settling back where she had been before. Gohan's masenko exploded behind her, taking out several trees and a few animals. She bounced a bit in the air, like a gymnast. Thanks to Sango's powder, Gohan could see why.

She was settling on the hairs and her bouncing was as they tried to settle under her sudden weight. She had dodged the blast easily enough, far faster than Gohan would have thought possible. As she settled, she cocked her head at the boy, pondering him. It made Gohan more than a little nervous. She was eyeing him like a lion would eye a field of animals, trying to decide when was the proper time to strike.

"Masenko, eh?" She asked. "Demon Wave?"

Gohan hadn't even considered the attack's meaning but now it seemed oddly appropriate.

"Hyaa!"

Yura leapt up again, avoiding Goku's condensed ki blast. She leapt forward, landing on top of the one of the trees, pulling the katana from its sheath. "Hmm…I tire of this game. Give me that hair!"

Her speed left much to be desired, making it fairly easy to dodge. However, Gohan was unused to fighting against a sword. It was new to him. He had an odd fascination with katanas but Goku was making him wait one more year before he could get one of his own. It was something else entirely to see a curved, metal blade curving right at him.

Dodging barely, the blade sliced straight through the tree behind him. Like a piece of tofu sliced by a red hot knife, the tree fell in splinters. Yura stood atop the fallen wood then turned, fixating her sight right on the young boy again. Her eyes were still, almost playful, like she enjoyed seeing them leapt about.

"Kamehameha!"

"Hiraikotsu!"

Taken by surprise, Yura hit the ground hard as the large boomerang tore into her back, slamming her into the ground, tearing a good sized bloody gorge from her back. Almost at the same time, a lightning quick beam, bright yellow and blue soared right at her as she struggled to her feet. Yelping in pain, the narrow beam sliced straight through her chest, ripping her flesh into pieces. Blood, but not the usual red shade, spilled down her body, leaving puddles in the ground.

Gohan backed up, taken slightly aback. One would think after seeing and befriending many races, several alien races in fact, that sight of different colored blood would no longer faze him and for the majority of the time, this was true.

But, still, there was something about pitch black blood that made his skin crawl.

Yet, as the wave of the ki energy faded, the black haired woman stood straight up, looking his father right in the face. With a wound in her chest at least the size of a basketball and pulsing out rivers of blood, she adjusted her hair, tossing it behind her ear and realigned her sword. "Now, that is truly an interesting attack. What kind of youki do you possess, young one?"

Gohan, despite the situation, almost laughed out loud. His dad, young?

Goku, on the other hand, blinked. Youki? That term was alien to him.

"Youki?" Goku repeated as he scratched his head, "That was ki."

Sango stepped forward, drawing her own katana and pointing it at the demoness. "Unlike you, Son Goku has no youki, demon."

"Oh, funny, that is what the infantile fighter over there said." She remarked, jerking his thumb at Gohan.

At this, Gohan's face flushed with both shame and anger. "Excuse me? I'm no baby!"

Yura turned and regarded him a moment, her eyes flickering. "Oh? Your fighting skills and strategy are laughable at best, something an oni would only deem acceptable from a mere toddler."

Gohan suddenly felt an urge to send her head rolling but instead of charging, he kept his feet firmly planted to the ground. She was not like any other creature he'd ever fought and he knew better than to charge someone with his rage in control. Last time he'd done that, his father had died to make up for his cocky errors. He was determined not to have that happen again.

Instead, he replied. "You aren't too smart either. Fighting someone on their own territory."

She didn't even seem fazed. "It is not giving you much advantage though, is it, youngling?"

Goku spoke up when his son didn't. "You aren't welcomed here. Take your hairs and go back to where you came from!"

"Oh?" she leaned backward, like one reclining in a chair, easing herself almost all the way to the ground by way of the hairs. "So, you decree yourself Daimyo of this land?"

Goku blinked, taken aback and it showed. Daimyo? A Lord? He was many things but a Lord certainly wasn't one of them!

"Well, not exact—"

"Then you have no claim to it and I will mark my claim to what I want wherever I please." At this, she sneered. "And I want that golden hair."

Gohan raised his hands back into an attack position-

"OW!"

Goku jerked his attention over to his son as the boy fell to his knees, crying out in pain.

Yura flicked her wrist and her hairs flicked her katana back to her hands, yanking it from the wound in the boy's shoulder.

Goku was stunned, to say the least and immediately dropped to his son's side. Gohan's hands had flown to his pulsing shoulder, putting pressure to the wound. It was a deep cut, the katana had tore through the shoulder, going in the back up to its hilt and plunging through the front. Yura had yanked it out rather harshly, ripping the wound open on the top of the boy's arm.

"Gohan—"

'Dad, I'm fine." Gohan insisted rather harshly, standing back up. He was mainly irritated at himself for having not seen her attack.

Sango herself was eyeing the demoness with a critical eye. This one was hard and she carried herself like only a few choice demons Sango had encountered in her life. It was the look of one full of utter confidence and little fear. It was these demons that had few weaknesses and often in the last likely place.

Kirara gave a low growl beside her and the human woman placed a hand on the large cat's neck to steady her.

Yura chuckled, turning the blade over in her hands, eyeing Gohan's red blood. She studied it for a moment then she frowned, "Oh me, oh my but you lack the luster of a true demon."

Hissing through gritted teeth, Gohan threw his father's arm off for the third time and stood, eyeing the demoness with dark, razor sharp eyes. "I told you I'm not a demon!"

"Hmph..that much is obvious." She eyed the blade again, "You are not human either though."

Gohan eyed her, his fists clenched.

Yura frowned deeply. "Your blood isn't pure, either with demon strength or human foolishness."

Sango snarled, speaking out. She had heard this from demons and humans far too often. It was regardless to her what these strange people were. Perhaps, a long time ago, it would have mattered to her what their heritage and lineage was but as her recent journeys had taught her, those things were of little consequence.

To Goku, Yura now turned her eyes and they sparkled. "Hmm, perhaps I was targeting the wrong victim."

To Gohan, she gave a look of distain. Before now, she had regarded him like he was a fun challenge but now she looked at him like he was worth little more than mud upon her feet. She took the cloth belt from around her waist and wiped his blood loose from her blade. "Hmm…I have no reason to dull my tongue nor my skills with a mere hanyo!"

Gohan blinked, taken aback slightly.

"Hanyo?" he asked softly, testing the word on his lips.

"Hanyo…" Yura repeated it, turning so she almost spat it at the boy. Leaning down so she was little than two feet from his face, she spat. "Hanyo…half blood! A disgusting half breed." She scoffed, "Repulsive things…"

Gohan had been called far worse by enemies before, including several words he wasn't allowed to repeat but that word…no, not so much the word but the way she said it…

Like it was worth less than scum.

He shook his head, why was he bothering with what an enemy called him?!

Pushing his way in front of his son, Goku growled at Yura, "My son is not a thing!"

Yura leapt away, backing up to hover in the air on one of her strands. She liked the look in the elder man's eyes. Perhaps she could that golden hair as she had hoped. Truth be told, now her sights were only on the elder man. The child was of little significance. She did have her standards after all. She would not stain her nest with the hair of a mixed mutt.

Goku had gotten angry at an enemy before but usually for different reasons. This was one of the first times he remembered being pressed close to Super Saiyan because of something an enemy said, as opposed to what they did. It was just a word but the way she had tore into his son with it, well, that was horrible. His son's face, though he had tried hard to hide it, had gone crushed.

Usually, he was glad when enemies took their gaze off his son, as this one had, but the reason this one had shifted her focus was not something he wanted Gohan to linger on and he knew he would.

As for Gohan, he turned, trying to focus his energies on something other than what was going through his mind. For starters, he was wondering why Sango wasn't attacking. Yura had seemed pretty angry and shook up when she first saw her but so far Sango hadn't done much. Gohan turned around, seeking out the demon slayer.

She was still, almost completely frozen like a statue. Gohan cocked his head a little confused but then noticed her eyes shifting, ever so slightly, to take in the entire landscape. She would look up, then down, to the left, to the right. The cat kept its eyes on Yura but its nose was twitching, faced upward. Gohan slowly, shifted his own eyes upward.

The trees and plants were swaying slightly but that wasn't too odd. At least it wasn't too cold…

Wait…

The trees were bending in a wind that wasn't there.

There was no wind, yet the trees moved.

Sango was way ahead of him and she threw her weapon upward, toward the open blue sky.

It bounced down and landed at her feet, like it had collided with a brick wall.

Goku's own eyes snapped open in realization. Gohan ran for his father, seeing the man bend his knees, in preparation for a thrust up into the air.

Yura saw it too.

"Oh me, oh my, we can't have that. I haven't gotten my prize yet!"

Even as she spoke, she pulled a small black comb from her left breast cover and held it in her mouth then swung upward. When she was air born, she took the comb out and ranked it across the air.

Only then did they see the millions of invisible hairs she had called to her aid.

Every single strand had been wrapped around them, in an invisible, air tight cocoon.

With the swipe down of the comb, the hairs caught flame and immediately all Gohan could see was fire and all he could smell was smoke. It was like the air around them was on fire. Gohan couldn't see more than three feet in front of him and by the way the fire curled and tightened, he could tell it was only the hair that was aflame and Yura meant to enclose it in on them until they either burned to death or died of suffocation from the smoke.

"Ha, ha, now this is most fun! How do you like my Oni Dark Fire? It will burn your bones to their marrow."

It was different. It was hot, hotter than most.

Gohan was used to fighting in fire but this was different. Fire, by normal circumstances, rose upward and was carried by the wind, driving away the smoke. That usually only left the flame to deal with. This was so different. He already felt like his lungs were going to close in on themselves. Yura had encased them in a globe of hair. The smoke had nowhere to flee to except into their lungs.

Coughing, Gohan covered his mouth and drew his hands back to attack but he already felt drained. The smoke was starting to do its damage, what with its enclosing space. He couldn't open his eyes without them burning in pain and while he could feel Yura's ki, her hairs and swords had no ki to sense which made sensing her like seeing an oasis but not the chasm in front of it. What good was it if he couldn't see the dangers between him and her?

Goku, while not understanding how it worked, he knew smoke was bad, especially in such a close quarters. Gohan's coughing was proof of that and Goku was worried more about him than anything. Forcing his eyes open against flame and smoke, he drew his hands backward, into an old familiar stance. Blue ki, almost the size of his own home gathered and rested on his palms. The light flared up, heating Gohan's face. Despite the pain in his shoulder, not to mention his lungs and chest, he drew back his other arm, his good remaining arm, and mimicked that family attack.

"Ka…me…ha…me…ha!"

The blast of intense heat left a smoldering smell and Sango shielded her eyes. Kirara never blinked, being a demon cat with fire capabilities, intense heat and fire was of little concern to her. She let her mistress bury her face into her fur, sensing her human eyes were quite sensitive. Kirara frowned, her razor sharp fangs bared. She didn't like this.

Yura hadn't moved to dodge it.

Gohan blinked as the light cleared, but was disappointed to feel no break in the amount of smoke. If anything, the only difference seemed to be the light remained a little bit, giving illumination. But what of Yura? Her voice was gone but Gohan felt her ki, just as--

Swallowing, he put a hand on his father's arm, almost in shock. "You have got to be kidding me…that was point blank…but her ki—"

"Me, oh, my, that was impressive."

Goku stared himself, almost not comprehending. It wasn't that their attack had failed, nor that it had missed its mark. On the contrary, it had connected with a vengeance.

Yura was still above them but half her skin had melted off with the blast. Her bones were quite clear on her entire left side. The blood had turned to steam and melted on contact. Bones were on her right hand, with small tags of flesh clinging to them.

But, her head had been completely disconnected and now rested in her hands. No, no longer a head but a skull.

Yet it spoke. Laughed even! A pure, bleached skull yet it laughed.

Lifting her arms up, Yura settled the smoldered skull where there was no longer a neck.

Hairs, now visible briefly by how fast they moved enclosed around her, covering her hands, her head, her torso.

They pulled away after a moment and an unscathed ogress giggled, her restored eyes shimmering in amusement. She lifted a pale white skinned hand to her red lips and giggled again.

"You'll have to do better than that though."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Piccolo did not like this.

At all.

He was always mindful of the ki around him, and subconsciously of the ki around the Son household though he told himself that it was to keep an eye on Son's strength and not because of the young boy whom was his student that also resided there. Though he and Son were now at least civil to one another, Piccolo would not dare attach the word 'friendship' to their relationship. He had Kami's influence within him now, as well as Nail and he was determined not to become soft because of it though he found himself drawn to the mountain village more and more.

It was for observation and nothing more….

Gohan…well, that was a different story and after the boy's victory against Cell, Piccolo found it fascinating to see the boy's power level grow. It seemed like every day it grew higher or more developed. He didn't doubt the boy had surpassed them all and no doubt would continue to grow in power. Usually, Gohan would always come to him at least once a week to spare and Piccolo had to admit he looked forward to it although he always lost but not without a harsh fight.

Piccolo scowled to himself. He had given the boy a bloody nose one day and while Gohan had kept on fighting without pause, when the boy had returned home, Piccolo could hear Goku fuss over him. It wasn't necessary. The boy was fine and Gohan himself told Goku he was fine. That was one reason Piccolo could not understand the grown Saiyan.

Goku had no qualms about sending Gohan into battles but Piccolo noted that whether it was battle, training or even the boy simply exploring, the Saiyan father felt the need to fuss over any injuries he might have, even something as simple as a scrapped knee. In his younger years, the boy might have eaten it up but as of lately, thank Kami, the boy was rejecting his father's babbling coddling.

Still, as the Namek flew towards Mount Paouz, he wondered briefly why he was so determined and why he flew so fast. It was just a routine look over and nothing more…

OOO

Gohan gagged, pressing into his father's side. He felt the elder man pull him close, trying to give him some relief. This made no sense! They'd survived a planet blowing up! This fire shouldn't have been a threat. But then, as Gohan thought it over, it really wasn't the fire that was a threat, it was the smoke. He was already feeling to effects of it, zapping the strength from his body. On any other adventure, the fires and lava had been fairly open, releasing the toxic fumes to the air. This was different, enclosed in a seemingly airtight dome.

"Hyah!"

Sango threw that weapon of hers again and it bounced harmlessly off of the airtight hairs. She caught the weapon as it returned and unsheathed a katana from her waist and leapt skyward. The cat swept up underneath her and charged skyward. Sango squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the smoke. It stung her eyes. The smoke was burning in her lungs, making her breaths labored. Oni youkai, like this Yura, were not so much dangerous because of their own power but because of two factors:

Their ability to manipulate to achieve their goals.

Their ability to regenerate.

Oni youkai separated their soul from their bodies. Yura's soul and ki was scattered, the core of it centered in something else entirely, that much Sango was certain of. The fact that she had survived all that she had was proof enough that her heart was separated from the rest of her. She scowled under her breath. A similar tactic that Naraku had.

Sango swung out with her katana at the hairs. They split under the blade but then like millions of fingers, wrapped around the cool metal, wrenching it from Sango's grasp and enveloping it into the wall of hairs. Sango, knowing this pattern all too well, jumped off her cat companion, calling, "Go Kirara!" The large cat shrunk back to its small form and dove for the ground.

Almost instantly, the blade was shot from the hair like a bullet from a gun. Goku swung his fist, knocking it the ground. Sango retrieved it, pausing to gather her breath or as much of her breath as she could. It was hard down here, with the smoke invading her senses.

"Mrr…"

She turned at the small cat's meow and the yellow feline was pushing at one of her shoulder plates, the small metal cup protecting her left shoulder joint. For a moment, she was baffled then she blinked in recognition and pulled the cap loose, reaching underneath. She snapped the strands loose and pulled the small herbal mask from beneath out.

As a demon slayer, she commonly used herbs and herbal smoke to drive out the minor demons. To keep from being affected herself, she wore the mask, to shield her lungs. It would just as well here. She tied the strands around her head, securing it over her nose and mouth. Instantly, she felt the herbs within sting her nose but the smoke no longer attacked her breathing.

She turned her head to check on her new comrades.

Goku cursed under his breath and let loose another blast at the strands. They weren't immune to his attacks. On the contrary, they ripped apart easily but the problem was that they reformed just as quickly. Goku was used to Cell being about to regenerate but Cell also had a great deal more power than he had had.

Yura's physical power wasn't that great but she was also a manipulator and not much of a fighter. She used everything else at her disposal. Right now, Goku hated to admit it but the smoke was zapping his strength. He was unused to this type of battlefield. Huge gaping wounds would take his strength. Long, lengthy battles would steal away his vitality bit by bit but this…slowly sucked dry like a sponge. He wasn't used to it and he didn't like it.

He tightened his grip on his son.

Whether or not he got away or not, he didn't care but Gohan had to get out here!

Gohan let out another half hearted blast, which burnt away the hidden strands but just as fast they reformed, before they could even make out the sky beyond. He groaned and coughed. He heard the tearing of cloth then his father was kneeling by his side and holding a piece of his torn clothes to shield his son's face. It didn't do much good, but knowing his father was trying was certainly something. It gave him some incentive and he tried his attack again, feeling his father's ki light up and join his Kamehameha.

"Stay focused Gohan!"

Gohan bit his lip and had to squeeze his eyes tightly shut a moment. The smoke hurt. It hurt a lot! No, no time to focus on that. He had to focus so that they could get out of this and figure out how to defeat this…thing! He narrowed his eyes, squinting against the smoke. It was hard to focus so he tried to find Yura's ki, hoping again, hoping against hope, to pierce her seemingly indestructible strands.

"Kamehameha!"

Goku bit his lip.

His son's ki was faltering and it was because of the smoke, that much he was certain. He didn't try to ask Gohan to go to level two simply because he knew if the smoke had polluted his lungs this much that it probably would be impossible for the boy. He wouldn't ask it of him then. He could but then if Gohan was too weakened to do it, as he feared, then the boy would blame himself for the lack of strength and that wouldn't help his son's already low self esteem and faith in himself.

The blast erupted loose on Yura's strands and this time, Gohan held it there, melting the strands away. Goku pulled his own ki together and shot his kamehameha into his son's, holding it as Gohan did. Gohan ground his teeth and was debating getting closer and risking just jolting through, hoping to injure the strands long enough to be able to slip through.

Goku likewise, pulled his ki strong and slipped into Super Saiyan. His kamehameha increased and he saw his son slowly but assuredly slip into it as well. It was putting a toll on them both however. It was hard to focus with nothing but fire, ash and smoke.

Sango broke from her own concentration not stare at her newfound comrades. She was no stranger to youki,which it seemed this people called 'ki.' Miroku spoke of it on occasion as did other priests and priestesses. Priests and priestesses seemed to have more control over it than anyone else, using it to purify or condemn. Youki was used with in reference to demons. She supposed it made sense that ki would mean human.

In any event, it just might have been their ticket away from this enclosed trap.

_Hey Sango! Am I getting better?_

_Her bright eyes met his younger ones. "Don't get too cocky though. You're doing well."_

_"You think father will be proud of me, Elder Sister?"_

_At this, the young woman smiled, walking by her younger brother's side to help him pull his chained scythe from the target. "Of course. Your aim is better."_

_The boy twiddled his thumbs a bit. "Father says that I should be ready to go into battle soon. Elder Sister, do you really think I—"_

_"You'll be fine! Besides, Father and I will be by your side, you know that."_

_The younger boy nodded, meeting her eyes with his own, so full of hope but dotted with traces of fear. "I know."_

_Sango smiled, "Come, let's go inform Father of your success." She remarked, regarding the wood stakes that had met their end by his well aimed blade. _

_"Yes!" He ran ahead of her slightly, "Father, Father, will you come and see—"_

Those eyes….

Sango bit her lower lip. Her brother was gone, the Gods assigned to him a Fate worse than death and she was on an endless road to undo it. Though she was loathe to admit it, having been raised to be a strong fighter alone, she missed the companionship of Miroku by her side and Shippo, Inuyasha and Kagome always near. They had formed a family of sorts it seemed and she felt half gone with them missing.

They were here, in this strange land, that much she was sure of. It was an odd situation, especially since only Inuyasha and Kagome were used to time travel. Still, she was certain they were here because they had all been hit by Jidai's attack. Sango knew about the Shikon Jewel and she didn't doubt that there existed such power in it as to divert time flow. It truly was a creation of power with no limits.

But to do anything about that and why Naraku bothered to come all the way here she had to get out of this fire Hell Hole!

And she put her faith in that little boy who looked so like her brother.

_OOO_

It wasn't painful but was certainly a surprise. Being disconnected from her heart and soul, physical injuries were truly not much to be concerned with. Truth be told, if the loss of her limb had not made her hairs sag and alert her in that regard, she doubted she would have noticed it for quite a long bit of time. But, when her strands slackened, it meant her trap was weakened.

Yura paused, then looked at her left arm, almost annoyed when it was suddenly missing. She turned, facing her attacker even as her strands of hair attached severed bone to bone and muscle to muscle and rendered it whole once more. Her eyes widened and she spoke with what sounded like a mix of amusement, awe and plain bafflement.

"Demons truly are abound here."

"Not one like you." Was the cold reply from the green creature that had attacked her. She dodged his first attack, ducking underneath it but he had a speed that was astounding and unlike her trapped victims, he was not constricted by her nets of hair. His speed was lethal up here. She had no fear of her own life but for her precious strands.

However, despite this concern, she found herself truly fascinated by this green skinned creature. He was not like the human like creatures below and when she summoned some of her strands and attacked his arms, they drew violet blood. She called her strands back, staring at them. She took a sample on her tongue and blinked. This thing…very much like a Slug Demon or a lizard demon, not a minor one either. Perhaps even a Great Demon of legend. She had seen her share of them but this was first that she truly considered a threat.

It was not his strength or even his speed which concerned her either.

It was the taste of his blood.

It was truly rich, like fine sake and was no doubt the taste of a full blood, like herself. But there was an odd taste to it, the taste of one whom had been tainted somehow or another. She eyed the intruder, focusing on his eyes. Eyes that she was certain had once carried true demon intent and strength.

They had a different look but one like Yura was well trained to see someone's intent, someone's power.

And there was a devil hiding beneath those eyes.

A devil that was sleeping but a devil all the same. Still…who better than a devil to awaken a devil?

Yura wiped some of his blood into her strands and swiftly sent that single strand back to her nest, unfelt by even the most minuet of animals as it whipped past.

She would leave his blood to Naraku to figure out.

_OOO_

Piccolo had been drawn to the flames and upon finding this odd woman, and feeling Gohan's faltering ki as well as Goku's had wasted no time in attacking her with a large ki blast. He was not plowing in as he often did, primarily because he saw an oddness to this one. He couldn't feel her ki, at least not in the normal sense.

It was close but it was not centered in the woman's body, if one could even call her a woman.

But perhaps what disturbed him most was the fact that she seemed to have discovered much on him, simply from his appearance. Piccolo was a Namek, he knew that now but hearing this woman speak of demons made him remember a time when he had considered himself demon-folk. So much time had passed since then. Yet it still struck a core.

He didn't like it.

He didn't like Gohan's faltering and weakening ki either. Nor Goku's.

He didn't like feeling this concern, much as it had become part of him lately. He used it to drive him, to make him a stronger fighter and he was determined to use it to that advantage right now. He charged Yura though he was not one hundred percent sure if his attacks would do any good. Her ki was different, distant but at the very lieast it might give Gohan and Goku a chance to get themselves out of the mess they'd been trapped in. So, masenko on the tip of his tongue, he lunged at her.

She didn't try to dodge.

Blood erupted, both black and violet, falling down like rain. Yura laughed and it infuriated Piccolo. Being regarded as no threat was a blow to his pride, especially since those many years ago when Gohan had been merely a baby in diapers, he had been Earth's greatest threat, a challenge for the young Son Goku.

He struck out at her, drawing blood, severing at least one of her arms but it seemed to do little good.

No, it did do good.

It divided her attention.

_OOO_

Sango recognized it almost instantly, the slack that indicated that Yura's attention was divided. It was this moment that was best to strike and they would not receive a better time. She struck out with all her strength and she saw her two companions draw on this last remaining reserves, especially young Gohan. She eyed him a moment, sweat pouring off his face.

He needed a little more of a push and those strands would be gone long enough for them to escape. But smoke and fire was making it hard to concentrate. Sango frowned, thinking then turned ot her cat companion, "Kirara!"

The cat shrank, jumping onto her mistress' shoulder, taking on her small form. Sango took several running steps calling,

"Build it up as much as you can and get ready!"

Goku gave a nod to Sango and Gohan shifted his eyes to meet hers.

She landed behind him and reached up, tugging at the mask that covered her face. She slipped it off and in the same move covered Gohan's mouth and nose with it. The thick scent of herbs burned his throat briefly but then the smoke was less, the pain less and his lungs felt free, no longer constricted. He glanced up, meeting Sango's face who nodded as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"NOW!"

Responding instantly to his father's cry, Gohan let out every speak of ki he could manage as a tremendous blast, disintegrating the hairs. Goku saw an opening, felt Yura's ki was concentrated not on their invisible prison any longer and he reacted instantly. Grabbing Sango's hand with his left, he scooped Gohan up under his right arm and with a fierce "KAMEHAMEHA" he released the trademark attack through his feet and plowed through the opening, the hairs skimming the bottoms of his toes as they managed to reform, a mere second after they cleared the nest.

And they could breathe again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Yura narrowed her eyes. This green demon had speed, strength and agility. He was not like the fighters of her time. Those fighters were many in number but lacking in skill. It was much like facing a Great Demon. She saw years of ability, somehow, restrained in such a young body. This body she fought was not as old as the skill. Demons such as herself had centuries of life, unlike the weak mortals they were often pitted against.

As it currently was, she was bleeding and one of her arms had been severed by his attacks. She had taken to her hairs to avoid several of his attacks but this one was clever. Most charged right after her, which only opened them up to her net and thus any manipulation she desired. This one stayed at a distance, utilizing the long distance attacks. It gave her no time to regenerate her arm.

A horrific sound from behind her made her turn to see her victims plunge from her enclosed cage of hair, fire and smoke. Anger boiled in her blood. She was an ogress, one born of the highest skill. She could not lose, especially not to these pathetic fools. Besides which, the demon in front of her already posed enough issue and the odd spiky haired one did not look of human blood. His son, that despicable half-breed, was of no concern to her but the father was. And while she was not overly concerned when it came to demon slayers, this one was talented. She had managed to make her hairs visible which took away a great deal of what made her so dangerous.

Thus, it was not the best situation.

All the same, she had managed to slip away a bit of the green demon's blood. Blood itself was a great indicator of many things. Looking over her hands, some of his blood still decorated them. She lifted one to her lips and took a small lick. It was rich and it burned with power. It was not the taste of slug or lizard demon blood but something else entirely. There were hints of both kinds within it but it tasted like an evolved version, or perhaps with a hint of dragon blood.

Kanna or perhaps Jidai would be able to tell more. Her main concern was perfecting and protecting her nest.

Goku let his son go and the small yellow cat swiftly enlarged to carry her human companion. Sango clasped onto the cat's fur, pulling herself up right and immediately scanned the horizon for Yura. She knew more about demons than her two companions though they could certainly carry a fight as well as she and she was more than aware that in a well known situation they could probably cause more damage than her. Already, they seemed able to manipulate their ki in ways that she had seen Kagome do with the spiritual arrows.

"Mister Piccolo!" Gohan greeted his green skinned friend. The Namekian replied simply,

"You've attracted trouble again, like you usually do, Son."

Goku eyed the namekian. "Hey, this one ain't after me…least not completely." He said in defense. "Never seen this one before. You, Piccolo?"

The Namek eyed the creature. There was nothing in his memory that gave any clue to this thing. The memories he had acquired when he merged with Kami had faint recognition of her type but not of her in particular. "I'd prefer to have this the last time, Son. You made any progress, with all the tricks you have up your sleeve?"

Goku didn't reply just narrowed his eyes at his opponent. Her eyes had changed, she no longer looked so full of confidence but she also wasn't full of fear. Rather, she had a look to her that Goku saw in a lot of his opponents, right before they unleashed some unexpected attack. Already, he knew this girl attacked without physically being near. Hell, her last attempt hadn't looked like much but Goku's lungs still burned slightly from it.

Piccolo frowned; this opponent he didn't like in the least. Usually their opponents seemed to have some kind of weakness. So far, all he saw was her ridiculous attachment to these hairs. That in itself didn't even give them much of an advantage. She could move them at will. It didn't matter that they could snap them open. They slowed them down, they made it hard to maneuver and with enough strands, even their attacks could be faltered or buffered or even stopped entirely.

Gohan powered up a little ki in his hands but he made no attempt to release it, not yet. So far, none of their attacks had done anything. All she did was repair her limbs. It reminded him a little bit of cell but with an important difference. At least with Cell, they had seen him pause to regenerate, they had seen pain.

With this Yura, he saw nothing except shock on her face at times but there was never any pain. How could she never express any pain? Even Daddy and Vegeta would be unable to hide pain at times. Yet, this girl would laugh more times than not! She would laugh, she would dodge and attack again with a small delay to regenerate herself but she was never slowed down due to pain.

As for Sango, she had seen this a few times. She was only sixteen but she had been working as a demon slayer for almost six years. She had risen in rank throughout the village rather quickly, due to her quick and thorough work as well as her bravery and unrelenting pursuit. She never came away from a battle or mission without new experience and knowledge under her belt. She learned those demons to be feared and those which were easily conquered. Any demons that could take the form of bugs usually were easily conquered and destroyed, being frail in body despite looking menacing. The two exceptions to this were moth and spider demons, both of who were trappers and to be approached with caution.

Other demons it really varied. The pack demons were ones that she learned to respect, due to the fact that it was rare to find just one of them. Koga's clan was an excellent example. While the young lord of the wolf demon clan was full of pride and liked to think himself invincible, Sango had seen how much less of a threat he was once his pack had been decimated. He fought better with others, much as he liked to think of himself as completely independent.

Yura stretched her hands again, smirking but as it was the group of warriors were at a standstill. Goku and the others knew enough to not charge this woman needlessly. It didn't seem like any of their attacks did any good. Wasting their energy wouldn't do any good. As it was, they were pretty much lost on how to handle this kind of enemy. Every enemy had some kind of weak point. Cell even did, if you completely obliterated his body then there was no way for him to reform.

Piccolo, as much as he wanted to throw another attack at her, was busy trying to analyze a good strategy without much time. He knew if they gave her enough time that she would attack again. He had already counted out much of their energy attacks. All she did was reform from them. A physical attack was a possibility but her damned threads made that more difficult, no doubt one reason she used them.

Sango was done trying to dart about however. She turned to her yellow cat companion and whispered to her "Let's go Kirara."

The cat called flames out of its feet and bounded forward. Sango leapt from her feline friend's back, drawing her katana from its sheath. The metal clashed with Yura's own sword which she pulled up and into the battle. Sango jumped backwards, using the woman's own threads as her support, jumping from one to another before they had a chance to ensnarl her. She swiped out, drawing blood from the woman's arm, letting it drop limp to the ground below.

Yura merely swiped out with her other arm, shifting the threads to toss her katana into her remaining hand.

Sango dodged under her blow, pushing up with her arms to thrust her feet out at her. The small sickle blade that she kept sheathed alongside her ankle shot out and sliced through the flesh and bone of the woman's remaining limb, severing it at the wrist. Unperturbed, the woman drew her red comb into her mouth and yanked.

Sango's left ankle immediately felt a surging red hot pain in it as several microscopic threads that Yura had been silently commanding, even as she fought her, suddenly contracted. Red blood formed in a circular line, cutting into flesh and started to seep into bone. She swung down with her katana immediately only to have her wrist ensnarled by the same threads. Not about to be wrapped up or beaten, she hit the heel of her other shoe, unleashing the small scythe on that ankle, swiping down against her other foot. It cut into her flesh a little bit but it also sliced the threads apart which were now a bit easier to find, ironically, due to her red blood.

A sudden jolt on her hand caught her eye and looking up, she was staring at the smaller teenaged boy…this Son Goku's child. He had flown up and caught her hand to keep her from falling. She was grateful for it but as soon as Kirara came about, she swung back up onto the yellow feline though not without a nod of appreciation for her younger companion.

As for Gohan, he had already seen something worth mentioning. While their energy blasts seemed to do absolutely nothing, she had not yet managed to reconnect her arm. Her strands were working quickly to achieve that but Sango was already diving, her arm out and another blade already emerged. She sliced through the strands, jumping off and around the hairs to land back onto her feline friend who was growing smaller then enlarging then smaller then enlarging to make her way through the hairs.

She looked like a cheerleader with the way she was jumping around but she also reminded Gohan of those sumo wrestlers on television. Her muscles were flexed and she was so focused that she reminded him of Tien at times.

Well, whatever he wanted to call her, he was pretty sure "bad ass" would about cover it.

Frowning, he called "Piccolo! It's physical attacks!"

"I know.' The Namekian replied as he charged forward, his fist connecting with her face. Yura recoiled, her lip dripping some blood. She drew up her strands which provided something of a net, which blundered the Namek's next blow and gave her time to move backward. However, now, she found another blow cutting into her upper shoulder. Had her bones not been demon, they would have shattered on contact. Turning, she growled.

"Me oh my, such feisty men. Especially you." She slurred through her dark lips. "Aren't you married?"

Goku withdrew his power pole, backing up enough to give him some range. "Power Pole, Extend!"

With a burst of blood, the pole cut straight through her chest. Sango leapt forward and swung her sword out again, severing the woman's legs.

Gohan darted forward, having to shred several hairs in the process but called to Piccolo, "Mr. Piccolo! My weapon, from the wilderness…now'd be a good time to have it back."

Piccolo didn't even turn to look at him, just fired a beam his direction and just as before, the weapon materialized in his hands. Drawing it out of its sheath, Gohan yelped in surprise at first. The weight was massively different, not too surprisingly since he had been four when he last lifted it and he was much older now. It took him a moment to gather his bearings but then he charged at her, his eyes on anything on her body he could cut. If they could keep her from regenerating…

He yelped out at the strands he ran into but they weren't too hard to break through but the result was that they cost him some of his speed. He woulda laughed at it if someone had told him yesterday that hair would impair him in a battle. It sounded so stupid. He shook his head to gather his thoughts and jolted up at the woman, breaking through the strains with brute force.

Swinging his sword down, it broke through skin and bone, like a hot knife through butter, effortlessly. It was weird though. He had cut through dinosaur tail many a time with that blade and there was always some form of protest, either by the muscles bunching, some kind of hideous screech of pain or in some cases...both. There was no resistance here. He swiped down and through and not once did this woman pause in her assault though now her limbs were severely limited. She had to depend more on her hairs and while they were a hindrance, they could snap them.

Sango's trained eyes were scanning the situation. Even as Piccolo and Goku continued their physical assaults, she was looking for it, that one weak point. If Yura was making no physical response to pain or the attacks, then she was a separated demon; she had placed her soul, her spirit, her heart in a separate location. While she had not faced Yura before, the name was familiar; Kagome had told her that it was the demon against which she and Inuyasha had battled when the Shikon jewel was first shattered.

Sango frowned, thinking, even as she threw some of her hidden knives at Yura, severing major hairs and allowing Piccolo and Goku to get another good three or four punches in, which pretty much reduced anything she had left of a torso into cracked mush. However, as the skin and muscles tore away, it did give Sango the break she was looking for.

There! A thread of hair, slightly thicker than the others. If one looked closely, they could see the other hairs branching off from it. That was it, the core strand. Follow that and you found the heart.

She knelt down and whispered to her companion "that way, Kirara!"

With nary a growl in response, the cat dove, trailing the small thread into the distance. Sango felt bad for leaving the others behind but they were engaged in an endless battle if they didn't find that heart. Demons may have struck to some old habits, they were uniquely humanistic with some ways. If kagome's account was accurate then in the first battle of defeat, Yura had hidden her heart within her nest. It was not surprising, again, the demon ways sometimes tended to be animalistic for specific things, namely regarding their dens and homes and mating rituals.

That being said, demons learned far more than animals did. If Yura's nest had been destroyed before to get to her heart, she was not about to repeat hiding it in the same spot. However, while her body was indestructible, always repairing itself, that thread was essential. It was impossible to break but it had to connected to her heart. Sango also took note that with the quickness of her moves that the heart had to be close. Demons who separated from their hearts may have been able to move and act at any distance from their heart but the further, the harder and slower it became. If Yura was repairing her body as quickly as it appeared, she must have been very close.

There, ahead! Entangled amid dozens of threads, like cobwebs upon cobwebs, she could see the thread enter. She leapt from her companion, landing amid the various tree branches. Using them like steps, she darted from one to the other, almost not stopping to look for her next foothold, figuring them out as she went, pulling her weight along using the bamboo stalks that decorated this landscape.

Withdrawing the blade from her wrist again, she swung, shattering the threads about the core strand. She swiped once or twice before she saw it. A small skull, blood red in shade. Lifting her arm up, she swung down, the bone cracking from the well-made blade. Like a split shell, the skull crumbled away to the side. Sango narrowed her eyes.

A small red comb, barely bigger than her hand. Her blade came down again, cracking it clean in half.

* * *

"Duck Dad!"

Goku gave a faint "Yiie!" as his son tore through the air he had just been in with his blade. It cleaved into the woman's head, going straight through, sending the lower half of her head, brain and skull all tumbling downward. Gohan felt a tad sick at this, as even with all the battles he had been in, gross was still gross and seeing blood, guts and brain matter flying was gross.

The eyes of the woman still laughed for a mid-second then Gohan blinked, seeing them enlarge in shock and horror. Gohan had seen those eyes before, lastly from Cell when he had unleashed his final Kamehameha. It was the look when one realized their time was up and that their karma was going to determine their next path. For a brief second, her remaining body, what was left of it, turned into a faint white light and then dissolved like dust, leaving her torn tattered clothes to fall to the winds. Her threads went limp and collapsed.

Goku scratched his head "uh…what did you do, Gohan?"

Piccolo, his eyes scanning the landscape, replied for the boy "I don't think he did."

Gohan looked down, seeing as that lady emerged from the trees and bamboo. She looked kinda torn up but looked pretty good for the most part. She eyed the three of them and Gohan, then his father and Piccolo drifted to the earth. She smiled at Gohan and held out the broken comb. Gohan blinked for a moment then said "THAT thing is what made her invincible?"

Sango chuckled lightly under her breath. "Her way…separate the heart from the body and you make the body invincible."

Goku scratched his head again "So…her heart is a comb?"

Sango nodded, "yes. And one that has been broken before." She trailed her finger down a faint crack on the left half. Feeling a faint prick, she dug in her fingernails and withdrew a small sliver of pink glass-like stone. "Someone else revived her." She lifted the shard to the air and continued "And this is what multiplied her power."

Goku took the broken comb bits from Sango and crumbled them in his left fist, igniting them in a flash of yellow ki. "Why though? I mean, I know I have a habit of acquiring enemies but I don't remember making anyone mad that has that kinda ability."

"I don't think it was one of your enemies." Sango said simply, turning the shard over in her hands. "She was revived with a Shikon shard. So, Naraku probably has a hand in this."

Piccolo and Goku repeated "Naraku?" but Gohan's eyes went huge.

"Shikon?"

Sango nodded in response to both questions. "it's a bit…involved."

Piccolo frowned but his voice was not venomous. "And our battles never end easily. This is just the start. Anything you know, we should know."

Sango couldn't argue that point so she pocketed the Shikon shard and replied "Gladly but not here." She looked about, cautiously. "I don't trust to talk about Naraku so close to one of his minions' battles."

Gohan eyed Piccolo "What about the Lookout?"

Piccolo nodded "As good a place as any." He turned to Goku "You going to tell Krillin and your wife?"

Goku nodded "let Gohan and I catch them up and we'll meet you there." He took to the air, Gohan following. He eyed Sango "Your cat can follow Piccolo with no problem right?"

Sango rubbed the large feline's head affectionately. "There's little Kirara can't catch."

That being said, two flew off towards the small house and Piccolo rose to the air, the woman and her feline following.

And from the ruined battlefield, a large bee grasped a small strain of hair, stained with the namek's blood and rushed back to its master.


End file.
